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SHE HELD OUT HER HAND 


Page 75 




(ieorse Jflactionalb 
Stories JFor Eittle jFolIks 

THE PRINCESS 
AND CURDIE 

SIMPLIFIED BY 

ELIZABETH LEWIS 

» 

AUTHOR OF “THE PRINCESS AND THE GOBLIN SIMPLIFIED” 
WITH SIX FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOR BY 

MARIA L. KIRK 



> 5 

J > J 


PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 



Copyright, 1914 
By J. B. Lippincott Company 




FEB 19-F9H 


PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 
AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS 
PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A. 



©CI.a:!68621 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

I. CuRDiE Shoots the Pigeon 9 

II. The Lady of the Silver Moon 20 

III. The Fire of Roses 29 

IV. The Dance of the Strange Birds 39 

V. Forty-nine Strange Animals 47 

VI. CuRDiE^s Reception in Gwyntystorm — 55 

VII. CuRDiE Finds His Way to the Palace. . . 64 

VIII. CuRDiE Finds the King 74 

IX. CuRDiE Finds Good Food For the King 82 

X. CuRDiE Disposes of the Doctor 92 

XI. CuRDiE Drives Out the Bad Servants. . . 101 

XII. The King and the Fire of Roses 110 

XIII. The Battle Ended and the King Re- 
stored 120 


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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

She Held Out Her Hand Frontispiece ^ 

CuRDiE AND His Father Beheld a Lady 

Beautiful Exceedingly 22 

He Thrust Both His Hands Into the Heap 

OF Flaming Roses 32 ^ 

So He Set Her On Lina’s Back, Holding 

Her Hand 58 

On a Footstool a Yard Off Sat the Spider 

Glaring at Him 109 

The Moment A Pigeon Had Rounded Her 
Hand It Flew Off Straight as a Bolt 
FROM A Bow 120 



THE PRINCESS AND 
CURDIE 


CHAPTER I 

CUEDIE SHOOTS THE PIGEON 

CuRDiE was the son of Peter, the miner. He lived 
with his father and mother in a cottage built on the 
mountain side, and he worked with his father inside 
the mountain. 

It was the business of Curdie and his father and 
the many other miners to dig passages deep down and 
far into the mountain and seek out the silver ore in 
the rock and carry it out. Of the other precious 
things in the mountain they knew little or nothing. 
Silver ore was what they were sent to find, and in the 
darkness and danger of the mines they found it. 

The mines belonged to the king of the coimtry, and 
the miners were his servants, working under his over- 
seers and officers. He was a real king — ^that is, one 
who ruled for the good of his people and not to please 
himself. And he wanted the silver not to buy rich 
things for himself but to help him to govern the 
country, and pay the armies that defended it, and the 
judges who tried to secure justice for every one. 

9 


10 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


Nothing could have been put to better purposes than 
the silver the king^s miners got for him. 

About a year before this story begins, the king’s 
only child, little Princess Irene, had been living in a 
grand old house or castle on this same mountain side 
where Curdie lived. The spiteful little goblins who 
then lived within the mountain had tried to catch 
her and carry her away into their dark caves. But 
Curdie had found out about it and had managed to 
defeat their wicked plans. 

The king had been so pleased with the boy — then 
nearly thirteen years of age — that when he carried 
away Princess Irene, he asked Curdie to go with him. 
But he was still better pleased when he found that 
Curdie would not leave his father and mother all 
alone to go. He was a right good king and knew that 
the love of a boy who would not leave his father and 
mother to be made a great man was worth ten thou- 
sand offers to die for his sake, and would prove so 
when the right time came. So the king took a kind 
farewell of Curdie and his father and mother and 
rode away with little Irene on his horse before him. 

Things seemed very dull to Curdie after they were 
gone, and there was nothing for him to do but go on 
working in the gloomy mines. His father and mother 
were not entirely happy either, because they fancied 
that they had stood in the way of their boy’s good 
fortune. It would have been a fine thing, they 
thought, if he could have ridden away in the good 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


11 


king’s train. He might soon have become a captain 
and had a fine horse and been in command of men. 

Perhaps Curdie thought about this in his secret 
heart also, and it may be that that was the reason 
he began to grow duller and rougher in his ways and 
much less pleasant than he had been. For nothing 
will make one do that so surely as to brood over and 
regret the right thing or the generous thing he has 
done because the other thing he might have done 
would have been so much more interesting to himself. 

At all events, as Curdie grew older he began to 
grow coarser and commoner, more like a stupid miner 
and less like the manly boy he had been. On his way 
to and from the mine he took less and less notice of 
the bees and butterflies, moths and dragon-flies, the 
flowers and the brooks and the clouds. Yes, Curdie 
was gradually changing into just a commonplace 
miner. 

Another sign of it was that when he and his father 
and mother talked about the Princess Irene’s beauti- 
ful fairy grandmother and her magic thread which 
he once fancied had led him to find the princess, or 
of the delicious ointment she had rubbed on his wound 
and which had cured it at once, or of her lovely globe 
of light and its silvery beams down which the snow- 
white dove had sailed to circle about him and the 
princess and the king just before the king had ridden 
away into the night — when they talked of these 
things, Curdie just said to himself now that it was all 


n 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


nonsense ! Even when his mother said she had once 
seen a certain mysterious light of the same descrip- 
tion, Curdie felt that he did not believe it — only he 
had the grace not to say so. 

In fact, he began to make up his mind that the 
only things that were true were such things as he 
could see and touch and handle for himself. He 
began to feel that he did not want to hear anything 
about what his father or his mother knew or believed. 
That was simply old people’s talk and of no use at all. 
As for the things which had been gathered together 
from what all the people of the world had believed for 
thousands and thousands of years — ^why, that was just 
tiresome stuff which could not interest any one. 

You may think it strange for Curdie to feel in this 
way, but plenty of people do. And they go on becom- 
ing duller and coarser day by day because they have 
never learned that it is what the whole world has 
found out to be true during thousands of years — ^the 
world’s experience, as we say — ^which makes it possi- 
ble to do new and beautiful things to-day. Nor do 
they ever learn that of all these true things the best 
is something which you cannot see, nor hear, nor 
touch, but only believe in. 

Moreover, Curdie was growing hard and cruel 
because he was growing stupid. He had made him- 
self a bow and some arrows, and was teaching himself 
to shoot with them. He was learning to like to shoot 
and kill things, or shoot and wound them only — not 


THE PRINCESS AND CTJRDIE 


13 


because the things he shot were bad or dangerous and 
ought to be killed, but just for sport, just to amuse 
himself ! 

One evening in the early summer, as he was walk- 
ing home from the mine, with his bow and arrows in 
his hand, a light flashed across his eyes. He looked, 
and there was a snow-white pigeon settling on a rock 
in front of him, in the red light of the level sun. It 
fell at once to work, smoothing one of its wings in 
which a feather or two had got twisted. It was 
indeed a lovely being, and Curdie had not grown too 
stupid to think first how pretty it was, and how 
happy it must be, flitting through the air like a flash — 
a live bolt of light ! It stooped to fly again. Another 
moment, and it would have been aloft in the rosy light 
— it was just bending its little legs to spring. But — 
at that moment it fell on the path, broken- winged and 
bleeding from Curdie ’s cruel arrow! 

With a gush of pride at his skill, and pleasure at 
his success, he ran to pick up his prey. I must say 
for him that he picked it up gently, and held the little 
white shape in his hands, its whiteness stained now 
with its blood. And the winged thing looked up at 
him with such eyes, as if asking what was the matter ! 
Then the eyes closed, to open again presently with the 
same question. It did not once flutter or try to get 
away. It only throbbed and bled and looked at him ! 

Curdie ^s heart began to grow large in his bosom. 
What could it mean ^ It was nothing but a pigeon, 


14 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


and why should he not kill a pigeon 1 Once more it 
opened its eyes — then closed them again and its 
throbbing ceased. In spite of himself, Curdie gave a 
sob. Its last look reminded him of his little princess 
— ^he did not know why. But in spite of his imbelief , 
he asked himself if this could be one of her fairy 
grandmother’s pigeons — even the one which had 
flown down the silvery beam of light and circled little 
Irene and him on the last night he had seen her. 

Suddenly everything around him seemed against 
him. The red sunset stung him. The rocks frowned 
at him. The pleasant wind which had been fanning 
his face dropped away. Was the whole world going 
to cast him out*? Then the sun went down. Great 
clouds gathered over the west and shortened the 
twilight. The wind gave a howl and lay down again. 
The clouds gathered thicker. There came a rumbling 
which he thought was thunder. And still he stood, 
holding the dead pigeon tenderly in his" hand. It 
grew darker and darker! 

But now an evil something began to move in his 
heart. ‘‘What a fool I am!” he said to himself, and 
was just going to throw the bird from him and 
whistle when — a brightness shone all around him! 
He lifted his eyes and saw a great globe of silvery 
light shining somewhere above the roof of the old 
castle — Irene’s fairy grandmother’s, was it? He 
did not believe it, and yet — somehow he did. Then 
he saw how its light fell upon the white bird in his 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


15 


hand. At that moment the pigeon gave a little flutter. 

not dead!^^ cried Curdie, almost with a 
shriek. The same instant he was running full speed 
toward the castle, never letting his heels down lest he 
should shake the wounded pigeon he carried. When 
he reached the castle and ran into the little garden in 
front of it there stood the door wide open. This was 
as he had hoped, for what could he have said if he had 
had to knock at it? But where to go next he could 
not tell. All he knew was that he must go up, and 
presently he saw the great staircase rising before 
him. Up he went, and up, down passage after 
passage, and after a time he found himself before a 
little steep stair in a corner. When he reached the top 
of that he found three doors, one in front and one on 
each side of him. Out of one door was coming the 
sound of a spinning-wheel, and at this one he there- 
fore knocked. 

^‘Come in, Curdie!’’ said a voice. 

Gently he opened the door, and what did he see ? 
Nothing at first — except, indeed, a great, sloping 
shaft of moonlight that came in at a high window and 
rested on the floor. Then in it he caught sight of the 
wheel — a thin, delicate thing, reminding hnn of a 
spider’s web in a hedge. A step nearer, and he saw 
with a start two little hands at work at it. Another 
moment, and he perceived the form to which the 
hands belonged — a small, withered creature, so old 
that no age would have seemed too great to write 


16 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


under her picture. She sat criunpled together, a 
filmy thing that it seemed a puff would blow away. 
Her gray hair mixed with the moonlight so that he 
could not tell where one began and the other ended. 

As Curdie stood staring, and wondering if this 
could be the lovely fairy grandmother Irene had 
talked about, she leaned forward into the moonlight 
and he caught a glimpse of her eyes ! What wonder- 
ful eyes! If one saw nothing else, she was truly 
beautiful ! They looked as if they knew all that had 
been true and worth knowing since time began ! And 
he remembered, with a quake of fear, how she had 
known him and called him by name when he but 
knocked at the door ! 

But did knowing all that was true — this world 
experience, as we say — ^make people look like that, 
gray and crumpled and thin and old? If so, he felt 
again the old, stupid feeling that he did not care for 
the knowledge of other people — of older people — of 
the world ! He did not want to look like that — only 
for the wonderful eyes that were still looking at him 
through the moonlight! And now he remembered 
why he had come, and took a step or two nearer, 
holding out the motionless pigeon. 

What have you there?” she asked. Somehow 
Curdie felt that she knew. He said nothing, but 
just reached his hand farther out into the moonlight. 
The moment the rays fell upon it the pigeon gave 
another faint flutter. The strange old creature took 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


17 


it and held it against her breast, murmuring over it. 
When Curdie saw how distressed she was, he was 
sorrier still and said, did not mean to do any 
harm ! I did not think of its being yours ! ^ ’ 

“Ah, Curdie, you say you did not mean any harm? 
Did you mean any good?’’ 

“No,” answered the boy. 

“Well, whoever does not mean good is always 
very near to meaning harm ! And what other wrong 
have you been doing beside shooting my white pigeon, 
just for fun?” 

Her voice was so soft and unreal that Curdie 
could not tell whether it was her voice or only the low 
hum of the wheel, which was still spinning, spinning, 
spinning of itself. But, whatever it was, the low 
sound seemed to draw him into a reverie in which 
he thought deeply of himself and of all that he had 
been doing. It was some time before he roused him- 
self and looked up. 

“I know now,” he said at last, slowly. “I have 
been doing wrong right along because I have just 
been going on from day to day, not caring to do any 
good at all — ^not caring to get up to anything better !” 

“If you see that,” said the soft, old voice, “I am 
glad you shot my bird.” 

“How can you be,” cried Curdie, “when that was 
one of the bad, cruel things I did?” 

“Because it has brought you to see what sort you 
were and what sort you will be again, if you do not 

2 


18 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


mind. Now that yon are sorry, my poor bird will be 
better! Look np, my dovey!’’ 

The pigeon gave a flutter and spread out one of 
its red-spotted wings across the old woman’s breast. 

will mend it,” she said, ^‘and in a week or two 
it will be flying again. But never again Idll any- 
thing without a good reason for it. There are plenty 
of bad things that want killing, and a day will come 
when your bow and arrow will prove useful. Will 
you remember us, Curdie, or just go away and forget 
again and scoff and disbelieve?” 

As she spoke she held out her hand to him and 
drew herself up from her stool with his help, and — 
when or how it came about, Curdie could not tell — 
the same instant she stood before him a tall, strong 
woman, very old indeed, but as grand as she was old. 
Straight as a pillar, she stood before the astonished 
boy, and the wounded bird spread out both its wings 
across her breast like a beautiful ornament of frosted 
silver ! Old she was, without doubt, but he saw she was 
strong with a strength that would never grow old ! 

‘^Now I can never forget you!” he cried. see 
now what you really are !” 

^^Did I not tell you the truth as I sat at my 
wheel?” she asked. 

‘Wes,” answered Curdie. 

“I can do no more than tell you the truth now,” 
she replied. “Look as I may, I can do nothing better 
for you than that. Now go !” 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


19 


Curdle obeyed at once and took a few steps to- 
ward the door. But there he paused to ask a last 
question. ^‘What shall I call you^’’ he asked, and 
turned to look at her. There was nobody there ! The 
moonlight had vanished and the room was utterly 
dark. 

A great fear came upon him, and yet he felt that 
he was not really afraid. Down the long stairs he 
groped his way slowly but fearlessly, and soon was 
climbing the mountain with somehow a great joy in 
his heart. When he passed the rock where he had 
cruelly and uselessly shot the pigeon, his heart leaped 
to think that it would soon be flying again, and he 
ran the next hundred yards at full speed up the hill. 
Some dark shadows passed him : he did not even care 
to think what they were, but let them run. 


CHAPTER II 

THE LADY OP THE SILVER MOON 

The next night, Peter, the miner, and Curdie had 
a strange experience. They were just about to leave 
the mine to go home, but paused a few moments to 
rest. Father and son had seated themselves on a 
piece of rock at a corner where three passages of the 
mine met — ^the one they had come along from their 
work, one to the right leading out of the mountain, 
and the other to the left leading far into a portion of 
it which had long been disused. Curdie had once 
been in the habit of going up this last one to watch 
the goblins. But the goblins had turned the water 
into that part of the mine. Now there was a deep 
gulf there which stopped any one from going up. 

They had just risen and were turning to the right 
to go home, when a gleam caught their eyes and made 
them look along the old disused passageway to the 
left. Far up they saw a pale green light about half 
way between the floor and the roof of the passage. 
They saw nothing but the light, which was like a large 
star, and yet it shed hardly any light around it al- 
though it was so bright. Wonderful stories were told 
among the miners of magic gems that gave out light 
of themselves, and this looked as if it might come 
from the heart of such a gem. So they went up the 
old passage to find out what it could be. 

20 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


21 


To their surprise they found, however, that after 
going some distance they were no nearer to it, so far 
as they could judge, than when they started. It did 
not seem to move, and yet they, moving, did not 
approach it. Still they kept on for it was far too 
wonderful a thing to lose sight of, so long as they 
could keep it. At length they drew near the hollow 
where the water lay and still were no nearer the 
light. Where they expected to be stopped by the 
water, however, water there was none. Something 
had drained it off and the passage lay open. 

And now, to their surprise, the light, instead of 
being in front of them, was shining at the same dis- 
tance to the right where they did not know there was 
any passage at all. But they were hardly well into 
this, still following the light, when Curdie thought 
he recognized some of the passages he had so often 
gone through when he was watching the goblins. 

Thpn all of a sudden they saw that the light which 
they had taken to be a great way off from themselves 
was really almost within reach of their hands. At 
the same instant it began to grow larger and thinner ; 
the point of light grew dim as it spread ; the green- 
ness melted away; and in a moment or two, instead 
of a star, a dark, dark, yet luminous face was looking 
at them with living eyes! And Curdie felt a great 
awe swell up in his heart, for he thought he had seen 
those wonderful eyes before. 

‘‘I see you know me, Curdie,’’ said a voice. 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


‘ ‘ If your eyes are you, ’ ’ said Curdie, ^ ‘ then I know 
you. But I never saw your face before.’’ 

‘‘Yes, you have seen it, Curdie,” said the voice. 

And with that the darkness melted away from it, 
and down from the face came out clearly the form 
that belonged to it. At last Curdie and his father 
beheld a lady “beautiful exceedingly,” dressed in 
something pale green like velvet, over which her hair 
fell in cataracts of a rich golden color. It looked as 
if it were pouring down from her head and vanishing 
in a golden mist as it reached the floor. It came flow- 
ing from under the edge of a coronet of gold set with 
pearls and emeralds. In the front of the crown was 
a great emerald which looked somehow as if out of it 
had come the light they had followed. There was no 
ornament else about her except on her slippers, which 
were one mass of gleaming emeralds of all shades of 
green. She looked about five-and-twenty years old. 
,And for all the difference, Curdie knew, somehow or 
other, he could not have told how, that the face be- 
fore him was that of the old princess, Irene’s fairy 
grandmother. 

By this time all around them had grown light, and 
now first they could see where they were. They stood 
in a great, splendid cavern which Curdie recognized 
as that to which he had followed Glump, the goblin. 
But, strange to tell, the light came streaming, spark- 
ling, shooting from stones of many colors in the sides 
and roof and floor of the cavern — stones of all colors 



CURDIE AND HIS FATHER BEHELD A LADY, “BEAUTIFUL EXCEEDINGLY” 










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THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


23 


of the rainbow and many more. It was a glorious 
sight — the whole place flashing with colors — in one 
spot a great light of red, in another of yellow. Here 
and there were groups of stones of all hues, and again 
a cluster of tiny spots of brilliant light. Yet Curdie 
knew that all the beauty of the cavern — yes, of the 
whole creation — seemed gathered into the person of 
the lady. All dwindled into nothing as he looked 
again at her, though there was nothing on her that 
flashed or glowed or shone. 

was here once before,’^ he said. ‘‘The place 
was full of torches and the walls gleamed, but nothing 
as they do now. And there was no light in the place. ’ ’ 
“You want to know where the light comes from?’^ 
she said. “Then see! I will go out of the cavern. 
Do not be afraid, but watch 

She went slowly out. The moment she turned her 
back to go the light began to pale and fade. The 
moment she was out of sight the place was as black 
as night. Only the smoky-yellow red of their lamps, 
which they thought had gone out long ago, cast a 
dusky glimmer around them. 

For a time that seemed to them long they stood 
waiting while still “the mother of light’’ did not re- 
turn. So long was she absent that they began to grow 
anxious. How were they to And their way back if 
their lamps should go out? To spend the night 
there was to sit and wait until an earthquake rent 
the mountain. Day could come in by no other way. 


24 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


So long did they wait that it was well there were two 
of them. And their lamps were going out! They 
grew redder and smokier! But they did not lose 
courage, for two people can help each other have 
faith and patience. 

Still she did not return. They grew weary and 
sat down on the rocky floor, for wait they would — 
indeed, wait they must! Each one watched his lamp 
grow dimmer and dimmer. But ever as it sank, the 
image in each one’s mind of the lady of light grew 
stronger and clearer. Then the lamps went out and 
all was the blackness of darkness up to their very 
hearts and all around them. 

Was it? No! Faraway — it seemed miles away 
— shone one faint point of green light. Where, who 
coifld tell? They only knew that it shone. It grew 
larger and seemed to draw nearer. At last, as they 
watched with delight, it seemed once more within 
reach of a hand. Then it spread and melted as be- 
fore. And there were the eyes — and the face — and 
the lovely form — and lo ! the cavern was blazing again 
with lights! 

She looked at them a moment smilingly before she 
spoke. Then she said to Peter, ‘‘I have known you 
long.” 

‘^How can that be?” answered Peter, humbly and, 
indeed, foolishly. ^‘How can you have known a poor 
man like me?” 

‘‘lam poor as well as rich,” she said. “And it is 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


25 


I who have made you poor, Peter. It is a great privi- 
lege to be poor — ^though one that no man has ever 
wanted. Things come to the poor that cannot get in 
at the door of the rich. But it is only a privilege — 
not a virtue — to be poor. And now I am going to tell 
you what no one knows but myself. You, Peter, and 
your wife have the blood of the royal family in your 
veins. That is why I have been training Curdie for 
a work that must soon be done. He must go soon to 
the king’s court. I was near losing him, and had to 
send my pigeon. Had he not shot it that would have 
been better. But he repented, and that shall be as 
good in the end.” And she turned to Curdie with a 
smile. 

Please, may I ask a question?” said the boy. 

Are you the Lady of the Silver Moon?” 

You may call me that, Curdie, if you like.” 

^^And now I see you dark,” said Curdie, ‘^and 
clothed in green and the mother of all the light in the 
stones of the earth. And the Princess Irene called 
you her fairy grandmother. And you spin the spider 
threads and take care of a whole people of pigeons. 
Then again you are worn to a gray shadow with old 
age and yet are as young as anybody and as strong!” 

The lady stooped toward a large green stone 
bedded in the rock of the floor and looking like a well 
of glassy light in it. She laid hold of it with her 
Angers, broke it out, and gave it to Peter. Strong, 
indeed ! 


26 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


The boy stood looking at her strange and wonder- 
ful eyes and thinking hard: ‘‘She is just all that is 
true and always true, whether you can see it or only 
believe it. What is true is always very old and yet 
very young — and very strong and always beautiful.” 

As if she had seen his thoughts, she answered: 
“Yes, Cur die. Shapes are only dresses, and dresses 
are only names. That which is inside is the same all 
the time. But people see me differently. For in- 
stance, if a thief were to come in here just now he 
would think he saw the demon of the mine, all in 
green flames, come to protect her treasure. He would 
run like a hunted wild goat.” 

“I think I understand,” said Cur die. 

“And now are you ready?” she asked. 

“Yes,” said the boy, simply. 

“You do not know what for?” 

“You do,” said Curdie, “and that is enough.” 

“You could not have given me a better answer — 
or done more to prepare yourself, Curdie,” she re- 
turned, with a radiant smile. “Do you think you will 
know me again?” 

“I think so. But how can I tell what you will 
look like next?” 

“Ah, that indeed! But those who know me well, 
know me whatever new dress or shape or name I 
may be in.” 

“But if you want me to know you again,” said 
Curdie, “could you not give me some sign, or tell 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


27 


me something about you that never changes — or some 
other way to know you — or thing to know you by*?’’ 

^^No, Curdie. That would be to keep you from 
knowing me. You must know me in quite another 
way from that. It would not he the least use to you 
or me either if I were to make you know me in that 
way. It would be but to know the sign of me — ^not 
to know me, myself. No, people who know what is 
true do not know it by any sign about it. They just 
know within themselves that it is true. So you must 
just do what you can to know me, and if you do, you 
will. But come now, I will lead you out of this 
cavern.’’ 

As she spoke she turned and led the way from the 
cavern, which, as if a door had been closed behind 
them, sank into perfect darkness. They saw nothing 
more of the lady except the green star, which again 
seemed a good distance in front of them. And again 
they seemed to get no nearer to it, though they fol- 
lowed it at a quick pace through the mountain. But 
they trusted to it entirely and did not try to feel their 
way with either foot or hand, but walked straight on 
through the pitch-dark passages. When, at length, 
the night of the upper world looked in at the mouth 
of the mine, the green light seemed to lose its way 
among the stars and they saw it no more. 

Out they came into the cool, blessed night. It was 
very late and only starlight. To their surprise, three 
paces away they saw, seated upon a stone, an old 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


woman in a cloak which they took for black. When 
they came up close to it they saw it was red. 

‘‘Good evening/’ said Peter. 

“Good evening/’ returned the old woman, in a 
voice as old as herself. 

But Curdie took off his cap and said, “I am your 
servant. Princess!” 

The old woman replied, “Come to me in the dove 
tower to-morrow night, Curdie — alone!” 

“I will,” said Curdie. 

And so they parted, and the father and son went 
home to their cottage on the moimtain side. 


CHAPTER III 

THE FIRE OF ROSES 

The next night Curdie went home from the mine 
a little earlier than usual, to make himself tidy be- 
fore going to the dove tower. His Lady of the Silver 
Moon had not given him any exact time to be there. 
He would go as near the time he had gone first as he 
could. And soon he shot and ran and jumped and 
seemed almost to fly down the long, winding, steep 
path until he came to the gate of the king’s house. 

There he met with a difficulty he had not looked 
for. In the open door stood the housekeeper, and 
she seemed to broaden herself out until she almost 
filled the doorway. 

^^So,” she said, ‘4t is you, young man, is it? You 
are the person who comes in and goes out when he 
pleases, and keeps running up and down my stairs 
without ever saying by your leave or even wiping his 
shoes, and always leaves the door open? Do you 
know that this is my house?” 

No, I do not,” said Curdie, respectfully. ^Ht is 
the king’s house.” 

‘‘That is all the same. The king left it to me to 
take care of, and that you shall know! Don’t you 
see by my dress that I am in the king’s service?” 

“And am I not one of his miners?” 


29 


30 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


Ah ! That goes for nothing. You are a laborer— 
a nobody! You carry a pickaxe. I carry the keys 
at my girdle. See ! Go along with you ! ’ ’ 

She would have shut the door in his face had she 
not been afraid that when she stepped back he would 
step in before she could get it in motion. For it was 
very heavy and always seemed unwilling to shut. 

Curdie came a pace nearer. She lifted the great 
house-key from her side and threatened to strike him 
with it, calling to the men-servants at the same time 
to come and help her. Before one of them could 
answer, however, she gave a great shriek and turned 
and fled, leaving the door wide open. 

Curdie looked behind him and saw an animal 
whose grewsome look even he who had seen so many 
strange goblin animals had never seen equalled. Its 
eyes were flaming with anger, but it seemed to be at 
the housekeeper, for it came cowering and creeping 
up and laid its head on the ground at Curdie ’s feet. 
Curdie hardly waited to look at it, however, but ran 
into the house, up the stairs and through the dark 
passages to the door of the old Princess and there 
Imocked. 

^^Come in,” said the voice of the Lady of the 
Silver Moon. 

Curdie opened the door, but to his astonishment 
saw no room there. Could he have opened a wrong 
door? There was the great sky and the stars, and 
beneath he could see nothing — only darkness. But 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


31 


what was that in the sky straight in front of him? 
A great wheel of fire turning and turning and flash- 
ing out blue lights ! 

^‘Come in, Curdie,’’ said the voice again. ^‘It is 
all right. Come in ! ’ ’ 

Curdie stepped forward at once, though for just 
a minute he was tempted to feel with his foot to see 
if there was a floor to hold him. But he moved for- 
ward and somehow found it all Arm and strong. No 
sooner was he in than he saw that the great revolving 
wheel was her spinning-wheel, near the other end 
of the room, turning very fast and flashing out a 
strange and brilliant light. Behind it, of course, sat 
the princess, but whether an old woman as thin as a 
skeleton leaf or a glorious lady as yoimg as perfec- 
tion he could not tell for the whirling and the gleam- 
ing of the wheel. He seemed to hear her voice, how- 
ever, laughing low or humming, he did not know 
which. 

^^Come now, Curdie, to this side of my wheel, and 
you will And me,’’ she said, with the laugh still sound- 
ing on in her words. 

Curdie obeyed and passed the wheel, and there she 
stood to receive him — fairer than when he saw her 
last, a little younger still, and dressed not in green 
and emeralds, but in pale blue with a coronet set with 
pearls. Her slippers were covered with opals that 
gleamed every color of the rainbow. 

The room he was in was a marvel for beauty. The 


32 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


high ceiling was all a golden vine from which hung 
clusters of bright glowing gems of all colors, and 
from the centre himg a glorious globe of light — the 
silver moon itself ! The room was so large that, look- 
ing back, he could scarcely see the end at which he 
entered. But the other end was only a few yards 
from him, and there he saw another wonder. On a 
huge hearth a great fire was burning, and the fire 
was a huge heap of roses and yet it was fire. The 
smell of the roses filled the air, and the heat of the 
flames of them glowed upon his face. 

He turned an inquiring look upon the lady. 

‘‘Curdie,’’ she said, in answer to his eyes, ‘‘you 
have stood more than one trial already and have 
stood them well. Now I am going to put you to a 
harder. Do you think you are ready to stand it?” 

“I cannot tell,” said Curdie. “You must judge 
me yourself.” 

‘ ‘ Go and thrust both of your hands into that fire ! ’ ’ 
she said quickly, almost hurriedly. 

Curdie dared not stop to think ! It was much too 
terrible to think about! He rushed to the fire and 
thrust both his hands right into the middle of the heap 
of flaming roses and his arms half way up to his 
elbows. And it hurt ! How it did hurt. But he did 
not draw them back. He held the pain as if it were a 
thing that would kill him if he let it go — as, indeed, it 
would have done! He was in terrible fear lest it 
should conquer him. But when it had risen to the 


.a , J i n i^) | f H | n j | i ir il ltn' l ^ l 



HE THRUST BOTH HIS HANDS INTO THE HEAP OF FLAMING ROSES 

\ 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


33 


pitch that he thought he could bear it no longer, it 
began to fall again. It went on growing less and less 
till it became, in contrast to what it had been, almost 
pleasant. 

At last it ceased altogether, and Curdie thought 
his hands had been burned to cinders, if not ashes, 
for he did not feel them at all. The princess told 
him to take them out and look at them. He did so 
and found that all that was gone from them was the 
rough hard skin. They were now smooth and white 
like those of the princess. 

‘^Come to me,’’ she said. And when he had 
obeyed she asked him, Would you like to know why 
I made you put your hands into the fire?” 

Curdie looked at them again and said, ‘‘To take 
the marks of the work off them and make them fit 
for the king’s court, I suppose.” 

^‘No, Curdie,” answered the princess, shaking 
her head, for she was not pleased with his reply. “It 
would be a poor way of making your hands fit for the 
king’s court to take off them all signs of his service. 
There is a far greater difference in them than that. 
Do you feel none?” 

“No,” said Curdie. 

“You will, though, by and by, when the time 
comes. And listen closely to what I tell you. Have 
you ever heard what some wise men say — that men 
were just animals once and grew up from them into 
men?” 

3 


34 


THE PRINCESS AND CTJRDIE 


‘‘No,’’ said Curdie, wondering. 

“Well, it is no truer than this — which is what 
you must rememier — that all naen are in danger of 
growing backward and becoming animals. Many a 
man has become just a human hog or a beast of prey. 
Many a lady so delicate and nice that she can bear 
nothing coarser than the finest linen to touch her 
body, if she had a mirror that could show her the 
animal she was growing to would receive a great 
shock! Now you will have a great task to do 
presently, and you must have some way of knowing 
what sort of people they are with whom you have to 
deal. Now listen. Since it is always what they do, 
either in their minds or their bodies, that makes men 
turn into beasts, the change always comes first in 
their hands. And this is what the fire has done for 
you. It has made your hands so knowing and wise 
that you will hereafter be able to know at once the 
hand of a man who is growing into a beast. More 
than that, you will at once feel the foot of the beast 
he is growing to be, and so know him truly for what 
he is. And if any one is growing to something better, 
you will know that too.” 

When she ceased to speak, Curdie stood thinking 
and looking at his hands. 

“Come here, Lina,” said the princess at last, after 
a long pause. 

From somewhere behind Curdie crept forward the 
same hideous animal which had fawned at his feet at 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


35 


the door. Without his knowing, it had followed him 
every step up to the dove tower. At the sound of her 
name she ran to the princess and lay down at her 
feet, looking up at her with a most piteous ex- 
pression. Lina had a very short body and very long 
legs like an elephant’s, so that in lying down she 
kneeled with both pairs. Her tail, which dragged 
on the floor behind her, was twice as long and quite 
as thick as her body. Her head was something be- 
tween a polar bear and a snake. Her eyes were dark 
green with a yellow light in them. Her under teeth 
came up like a fringe of icicles, only very white, out- 
side of her upper lip. Her throat looked as if the hair 
had been plucked off. It showed a skin white and 
smooth. 

^^Give Curdie a paw, Lina,” said the princess. 

The creature rose and, lifting a long foreleg, held 
up a great, dog-like paw to Curdie. He took it gently, 
though with a shudder. But instead of a dog’s paw 
he found that he was clasping the soft little hand of 
a child. The green eyes stared up at him with their 
yellow light, and the mouth was turned up toward 
him with its constant half grin. Yet here was the 
child’s hand! Goblin animal as she looked, Curdie 
was sure that she had once been a woman. She had 
gone down into that ugly shape from being bad, and 
was now growing up again as a child. 

^Ht is a child’s hand!” he cried to the princess. 

The Lady of the Silver Moon only smiled. Then 


36 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


she said, ‘‘In the morning you must set out for the 
court — ^not like a great man, but poor just as you are. 
Tell your father that he must lay the stone I gave 
him last night in a safe place, not because it is a 
wonderful emerald, but because it will give him news 
of you. As often as he gets at all anxious about you 
he must take it and lay it in the fire and leave it there , 
when he goes to bed. In the morning he must find it 
in the ashes, and if it be as green as ever, then all 
goes well with you. If it has lost color, then things 
go badly with you. But if it be very pale indeed^ then 
you are in great danger and he must come to me.” 

“I will tell him,” said Curdie. “Please, am I to 
go now?” 

“Yes,” answered the lady, and held out her hand 
to him. “I will send you a servant for your journey 
and to wait upon you afterward.” 

“But where am I to go?” asked Curdie. “And 
what am I to do ? You have given me no message to 
carry, neither have you said what I am wanted for. 
I go without a notion whether I am to walk this way 
or that, or what I am to do when I get there — 
wherever it is!” 

‘ ‘ Curdie I ’ ’ said the princess, reproachfully. ‘ ‘ Did 
I not tell you that you were to set out for the court? 
And you know that lies to the north. You must learn 
to use far less directions than that. You have orders 
enough to start with. And you will find, as you go on 
and as you need to know, what you have to do. But I 


THE PRINCESS AND CXJRDIE 


37 


warn you that perhaps it will not look the least like 
what you may have been fancying I should require 
of you. Only be true and fearless, however, and 
all shall go well with you and your work.” 

Curdie said no more. He bowed his head, stooped 
to pat the strange head that lay at the princess’s feet, 
and turned away. 

As soon as he passed the spinning-wheel, which 
looked in the midst of the glorious room like any 
wheel you might find in a country cottage — old and 
worn and dingy and dusty — the splendor of the place 
vanished. He saw but the big bare room he seemed 
at first to have entered, with the moon — the prin- 
cess’s moon, no doubt — shining in at one of the win- 
dows upon the spinning-wheel. 

Next morning, since the princess said he was to go 
like the poor boy that he was, Curdie came down 
dressed in his working clothes. His mother, who was 
busy getting his breakfast for him, would have had 
him put on his holiday things. And these, she said, 
would look poor enough among the fine ladies and 
gentlemen of the court. But Curdie reminded her 
that he did not know that he was going among fine 
people. Moreover, as work was better than play, 
his workday clothes must be, on the whole, better 
than his playday clothes. 

When he had eaten his breakfast, his mother 
took a small bag made of goat-skin, with the long 
hair still on it, filled it with bread and cheese and 


38 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


liimg it over Ms shoulder. Then his father gave hini a 
stick he had cut for him in the wood. Curdie bade 
them good-by rather hurriedly, for he was afraid of 
breaking down. As he went out he caught up his 
pickaxe and took it with him. It had on one side 
a pointed curve of strong steel for loosening the 
earth and ore. On the other end was a steel hammer 
for breaking the stones and rocks. 

Just as he crossed the threshold of his cottage the 
sun showed the first piece of his golden disk above 
the horizon. And so at simrise Curdie set out upon 
his strange and unknown journey. 


CHAPTER IV 

THE DANCE OF THE STEANGE BIRDS 

CuRDiE had to go to the bottom of the hill to get 
into a country he could cross, for the mountains to 
the north were full of precipices. Not till he reached 
the king’s house where little Irene had lived was it 
of any use to turn northward. As he passed the 
house, at length, many a look did he raise toward the 
dove tower, but saw nothing of his Lady of the 
Silver Moon. 

On and on he fared, and came at last to a country 
where there were no mountains more, only great 
stretches of barren plain. As the evening came on in 
this lonely land Curdie began to feel tired. He sat 
down under an old hawthorn tree. Through this 
tree, every now and then, a lonesome wind, that 
seemed to come from nowhere and go nowhere, sighed 
and hissed. 

He had been so eager to get on that he had eaten 
nothing since his breakfast. He had had plenty of 
water, however, for many little streams had crossed 
his path. He now opened the bag his mother had 
given him and began to eat his supper. The sun 
was setting. A few clouds had gathered about the 
west, but there was not a single cloud anywhere else 
to be seen. 


39 


40 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


Now, Cur die did not know that this was a part of 
a country very hard to get through. Nobody lived 
there, though many had tried to build in it. Some 
of these died very soon. Some rushed out of the 
place. Those who stayed longest went raving mad 
and died a terrible death. Such as walked straight 
on and did not spend a night there got through well 
and were nothing the worse. But those who slept 
even a night in it were sure to meet with something 
they would never forget. And that old tree, under 
which the boy sat, and the plain around it, which 
stretched on all sides as far as he could see, were so 
withered that it was impossible to say whether they 
were alive or not. 

While Curdie ate there came a change. Clouds 
had gathered over his head and seemed drifting about 
in every direction. The sun was going down in a 
storm of bright crimson. Out of the west came a 
wind that felt red and hot one moment and cold and 
pale the next. And very strangely it seemed to sing 
in the old hawthorn tree! It blew queerly about 
Curdie, now making him creep close to the tree for 
shelter from its shivery cold, and now fan himself 
with his cap, it was so sultry and stifling ! It seemed 
to come from the death-bed of the sun, who was dying 
of fever and chills. 

As he gazed at the sun, now on the verge of the 
horizon, very large and very red and very dull — for 
though the clouds had broken away a dusty fog was 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


41 


spread all over it — Curdie saw something strange 
appear against it. It moved about like a fly over 
the burning disk, and looked as if it were coming out 
of the hot furnace heart of the sun. It was a living 
creature of some kind, surely, and so must be on the 
earth and not on the sun at all. He was only seeing 
it against the sun as a background. Its shape was 
very uncertain because the dazzle of the light all 
around it melted its outlines. But it was growing 
larger all the time, so it must be coming toward him ! 

It grew so swiftly that, by the time the sun was 
half down, its head reached to the top of the red 
arch. Presently nothing but its legs were to be seen. 
These were crossing and recrossing the face of the 
setting sun. When the sun was down he could see 
nothing more of it. But in a moment he heard its 
feet galloping over the dry^ crackling plain and 
seeming to come straight for him. 

He stood up, lifted his pickaxe, and threw the 
hammer end over his shoulder. He was going to have 
a fight for his life! And now it appeared again — 
vague, yet very awful — in the dim twilight the sun 
had left behind him. But just before it reached him, 
down from its four long legs it dropped flat on the 
ground. Then it came crawling toward him, wagging 
a huge tail as it came ! 

It was Lina! All at once Curdie recognized her^ 
the frightful creature he had seen in the dove tower. 
He dropped his pickaxe and held out his hand. She 


42 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


crept nearer and nearer and laid her chin in his 
palm, and he patted the ugly head. Then she 
crawled away behind the tree and lay down, panting 
hard. 

Curdie did not much like the idea of her being 
behind him. Horrible as she was to look at, she 
seemed to his mind more horrible when he was not 
looking at her. But he remembered how he had found 
the child’s hand in her dreadful paw, and never 
thought of driving her away. Now and then he gave 
a glance behind him. There she lay flat, with her eyes 
closed and her terrible teeth gleaming between her 
huge forepaws. 

After his supper and his long day’s journey it 
was no wonder that Curdie should now be sleepy. 
Since the sunset the air had been warm and pleasant. 
He lay down under the tree, closed his eyes, and 
thought to sleep. He found himself mistaken, how- 
ever. But, though he could not sleep, he felt himself 
resting delightfully. 

Presently he heard a sweet sound of singing 
somewhere. It was of a sort he had never heard 
before— a singing as of curious birds far off, which 
drew nearer and nearer. At length he heard their 
wings, and, opening his eyes, saw a number of very 
large birds, as it seemed, alighting around him while 
still singing. 

It was strange to hear singing from such big birds. 
Still singing, they began to weave a queer sort of 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


43 


dance about him, moving their wings in time with 
their legs. However, the dance seemed somehow to 
be troubled and broken — as if they were not able 
to do just what they wished. He soon learned, in the 
low growls behind him, the reason for this. They 
wanted to dance in a circle all around the tree, and 
Lina would not let them come on her side. 

For one moment Curdie felt that he would much 
rather have the birds than Lina. But at the next he 
remembered how she lay at the feet of his Lady of 
the Silver Moon in the dove tower. So he left her 
to do as she would. And the birds had to dance part 
way around in one direction and then back again! 
If Curdie had only known ! If those birds had been 
able to dance all around him in a circle he would have 
sunk down into a sleep from which he would never 
have waked again ! 

But their song and their motions and the waving 
of their wings began at length to make him very 
sleepy. All this time he had been doubting if they 
could really be birds. The sleepier he got, the more 
he imagined them something else, but he thought no 
harm. Suddenly, just as he was sinking down into a 
deep sleep, he awoke in fierce pain ! 

The birds were upon him — all over him — and had 
begun to tear him with their beaks and claws. He 
had but time, however, to feel that he could not move 
beneath their weight, when they set up a hideous 
screaming and scattered like a cloud. 


44 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


Lina was amongst them, snapping and striking 
with her paws, while her tail knocked them over and 
over. They flew np and came down upon her in a 
swarm, so that he could see only a misshapen mass 
rolling away in the dark. He tried to follow, but 
could see nothing, and finally came back to the tree. 
He was afraid Lina had been torn to pieces, but pres- 
ently she came limping back and lay down in her 
old place, 

Curdie also lay down — ^but from the pain of his 
wounds there was no sleep for him. When the light 
came he found his clothes a good deal torn, and his 
skin as well. But Lina was in a far worse plight 
than he — ^plucked and gashed and torn with the 
beaks and claws of the birds. This was especially 
so about the bare part of her neck, so that she was 
pitiful to see! 

‘‘Poor Lina!’^ said Curdie. *‘You got all those 
wounds for helping me!’’ 

She wagged her tail and made it clear that she 
understood him. Then it flashed upon Curdie ’s mind 
that this was the companion his Lady had promised 
him. Well! Lina was no beauty, but already this 
first night she had saved his life. From this on they 
should be close friends, look as she might! 

‘ ‘ Come along, Lina, ’ ’ he said. “We want water. ’ ’ 

She put her nose to the earth and, after snuffing 
a moment, darted off in a straight line. Curdie 
followed. The ground was so uneven that he lost 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


45 


sight of her many times. At last he seemed to have 
lost her altogether. In a few moments, however, he 
came upon her waiting for him. Instantly she 
darted off again. After he had lost and found her 
again many times, he found her the last time lying 
beside a great stone. As soon as he came up she began 
scratching at it with her paws. When he had raised 
it an inch or two she shoved in first her nose and then 
her teeth and lifted with all the might of her strong 
neck. 

When at length between them they got it up, 
there was a beautiful little well. He filled his cap 
with the clearest and sweetest water and drank. Then 
he gave some to Lina. Next he washed her wounds 
very carefully. As he did so he saw how much the 
bareness of her neck added to her ugliness. He 
thought of the goat-skin bag his mother had given 
him, and wondered if he could in any way make a 
collar of it for the poor animal. 

He found there was just enough of it. Moreover, 
the hair on it was so like Lina’s in color that no one 
would ever think that it had grown somewhere else. 
He took his knife, ripped up the seams of the bag, 
and began trying the skin on her neck. It was plain 
that she saw what he wanted to do. For she tried 
to hold her neck so as to help him, turning it this 
way and that as he worked. 

Luckily his mother had given him some thread 
and needles before he started, and it was not long 


46 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


before lie liad made a pretty good looking collar. 
This lie laced upon Lina’s neck with one of his shoe- 
strings which the long goat-hair covered nicely. Poor 
Lina looked much better for it, and if ever green 
eyes with a yellow light in them looked grateful, hers 
did! 

As they no longer had any bag to carry it in, 
Curdie and Lina now ate what was left of the food. 
Then they set out again upon their journey. 

For seven days they went on over the plain — on 
and on. They met with various adventures, but with 
nothing as dangerous as their fight with the birds. 
In all of them, however, Lina proved so helpful and 
so ready to risk her life for her companion that 
Curdie grew not only very fond but very trustful 
of her. Her ugliness, which at first only moved his 
pity, now really increased his affection for her. 

One day, looking at her stretched on the grass 
before him, he said, ‘‘Oh, Lina, if the Lady of the 
Silver Moon would only bum you in her fire of 
roses!” She looked up at him, gave a mournful 
whine like a dog, and laid her head at his feet. 
Clearly she understood something of his words, but 
what or how much, he could not tell. 


CHAPTER V 

FORTY-NINE STRANGE ANIMALS 

One day, from morning till night, they had been 
passing through a forest. As soon as the sun was 
down Curdie began to feel that there were more 
beings in it than themselves. First he saw only the 
swift rush of a figure across the trees at some dis- 
tance. Then he saw another and another, and still 
others, both farther off and nearer. 

At last he missed Lina, and, looking about for her, 
he saw something as weird looking as herself steal 
up to her. This creature began to talk to her after 
some beast fashion which she plainly understood. 
But soon what seemed a quarrel arose between them 
and strange noises followed, mingled with growls. 

At length it came to a fight, which did not last 
long, however. For the creature of the wood threw 
itself on its back and held up its paws to Lina. She 
at once walked on, and the strange form got up and 
followed her. They had not gone far before another 
as strange an animal came up and the same thing 
happened. It threw itself on its back and held up its 
paws and then got up and followed Lina. Again and 
yet again and again, a fresh animal came up and did 
the same thing. At last, and before they were out 
of the wood, Lina was followed by forty-nine of the 

47 


48 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


queerest, ugliest shapes that any one could imagine. 

To describe them were a hopeless task. One of 
them, for instance, was like a boa constrictor, walking 
on four little stumpy legs near its tail. About the 
same distance from its head were two little wings 
which it was forever fluttering, as if trying to fly 
with them. Curdie fancied it thought it did fly with 
them when it was merely plodding along busily on its 
four little stumps. How it managed to keep up with 
the rest he could not think till he missed it once. The 
same moment he caught sight of something at a dis- 
tance plunging at an awful serpentine rate through 
the trees. Presently, from behind a huge ash tree, 
this same creature fell into the group, quietly 
waddling along on its four stumps. Watching it 
after this, he saw that it did the same thing every 
time it got behind. In this same mad fashion it shot 
ahead and a few minutes after toddled in again 
amongst the rest'. 

The others were equally strange looking and had 
equally strange ways of travelling. But Curdie had 
been too long used to the goblin creatures in the 
mines and on the moimtain to feel the least fear at 
being followed by such a herd. On the contrary, 
their queer shapes and actions kept him amused and 
so made the journey seem shorter. 

On they marched solemnly, almost in silence, for 
either with feet or hands the creatures seldom made 
any noise. By the time they reached the outside of 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


49 


the wood it was the twilight of morning. Into the 
open trooped this queer band of shapes, all follow- 
ing Lina. But suddenly she stopped and said some- 
thing which they understood, though to Curdie it 
seemed only like low growls. They all turned at once 
and hurried back into the wood, and Lina alone came 
trotting clumsily after her master. 

They were now passing through a lovely country 
of hill and dale and rushing streams. Now and then 
they came to a large valley whose meadows were 
dotted over with cows, and whose slopes were 
covered with oats, barley, and wheat. At last they 
reached a broad, beautiful river up which they must 
go to get to the city of Gwyntystorm, where the king 
had his court. 

As they went along the valley narrowed and then 
the river narrowed, but still it was wide enough for 
large boats. After this, while the river kept its size, 
the banks narrowed until there was only room for a 
road between the river and the great cliff that over- 
hung it. At last river and road took a certain turn 
and lo! a great rock in the river, which, dividing, 
flowed around it. On the top of the rock stood the 
city with lofty w^alls and towers and battlements. 
Above the city lay the palace of the king, built like a 
strong castle. But its fortifications had been 
neglected. For the whole country was now under 
one king, and all men said there was no more need 
for weapons or walls. 

4 


50 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


No man here pretended to love his neighbor. But 
every one said that peace and quiet behavior were the 
best thing for himself. And that was quite as useful 
as loving his neighbor and a great deal more reason- 
able. The city was prosperous and rich under this 
way of acting, and if anybody was not comfortable, 
everybody else said he ought to be. 

The gates stood wide open and were dropping 
from their hinges. The towers built for defence 
were crmnbling to pieces. Everybody in the city re- 
garded these signs of decay as the best proof of the 
prosperity of the place. Commerce and self-interest, 
they said, had got the better of wars, and the riches 
that flowed in upon them made up for any troubles 
that came. 

Some said that the only reason for remembering 
their past history was that they might see how much 
smarter they were than their ancestors had been. 
And by far the greater part of the inhabitants of the 
city thought they were extremely flne people. 

The street that led up to the king’s palace was 
very steep, and just as Curdie entered it a baker, 
whose shop was but a few doors within the gate, 
came out in his white apron. He started across to 
the shop of his friend, the barber, on the opposite 
side of the way. As he ran he stumbled and fell 
heavily. Curdie hastened to help him up and found 
he had bruised his forehead badly. 

He scolded furiously at a stone for tripping him 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


51 


up, saying that he had fallen over it three times in 
the last month. He asked what the king thought he 
was about to allow a stone to stick up forever in the 
main street of the city wherein the king resided! 
What was a king for, if he would not take care of 
his people’s heads? 

Was it your head or your feet that ought to hear 
the blame of your fall?” asked Curdie. 

Why, you booby of a miner, my feet, of course !” 
answered the baker. 

‘‘Well, then,” said Curdie, “the king can’t be to 
blame!” 

“Oh, I see!” said the baker. “You are laying a 
trap for me. Of course, if it comes to that, it was 
my head which ought to have looked after my feet. 
But it is the king’s part to look after us all, and have 
his streets smooth.” 

“Well, I don’t see,” said Curdie, “why the king 
should take care of the baker when the baker’s head 
will not take care of the baker’s feet.” 

“Who are you to make fim of the king’s baker?” 
said the man, in a rage. 

Instead of answering, Curdie went up to the rock 
in the street which had made the bump on the baker’s 
head. Turning the hammer end of his pickaxe, he 
struck it such a blow that it flew wide in pieces. Blow 
after blow he struck until he had levelled it with the 
street. 

But out flew the barber upon him in a rage. 


52 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


‘‘Why do you break my window, you rascal, with 
your pickaxe?’’ 

“I am very sorry,” said Curdie. “It must have 
been a bit of stone which flew from my pickaxe. I 
couldn’t help it, you know.” 

‘ ‘ Couldn ’t help it ! A flne story ! What do you go 
breaking the rock for — the very rock upon which the 
city stands!” 

“Look at your friend’s forehead!” said Curdie. 
“See what a bump he has got on it with falling over 
that same stone!” 

“What is that to my window!” cried the barber. 
“His forehead can mend itself. My poor window 
can’t!” 

“But he is the king’s baker,” said Curdie, more 
and more surprised at the man’s anger. 

“What is that to me? This is a free city. Every 
man here takes care of himself, and the king takes 
care of us all. I’ll have the price of my window out 
of you, or the king shall pay for it.” 

He took Curdie by the collar. “Come now! You 
pay me for that window!” 

‘ ‘ How much ? ’ ’ asked Curdie. 

The barber said, “Half a dollar!” 

But here the baker interfered. He was angry 
because the barber was heartless enough to think 
more of his broken window than of the bump he him- 
self had received. 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


53 


^^No, no!’’ he said to Curdie. little pane of 
glass like that costs only a quarter.” 

^^Well, to be certain,” said Curdie, ‘‘I’ll give him 
a half. Perhaps some day if he finds he has asked 
too much he will bring me back the difference. ’ ’ 

“Ha! Ha!” laughed the barber. “A fool and 
his money are soon parted!” 

But he took the money from Curdie with a sense 
of great satisfaction. He had made a very good 
bargain and was a good deal in. 

“I am glad that stone is gone, anyway,” said the 
baker. “I had no idea how easy it was to remove it. 
Give me your pickaxe, young miner. I will show you 
how a baker can make the stones fiy!” 

He caught the tool out of Curdie ’s hand and fiew 
at one of the f oimdation stones of the gateway. But 
he only jarred his arm terribly and scarcely chipped 
the stone. He dropped the pickaxe with a cry of pain 
and ran into his own shop. Curdie picked up his tool 
and, looking after the baker, saw bread in the window. 
As he wanted some bread, he followed the baker in. 
But the man was ashamed of himself, and, thinking 
Curdie was coming to laugh at him, popped out of the 
back door as Curdie came in at the front one. 

The baker’s wife, however, came in to serve him, 
and Curdie asked the price of a loaf. Now, the 
woman had been watching all that passed in the 
street, and she liked the look of Curdie. So she said 
to him in a low voice, “This is not the best bread. I 


54 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


will sell you a loaf of what we bake for ourselves. 
And take care of yourself in this place, my boy! 
They do not love strangers here!’’ 

Curdie thanked her as he took the bread, and she 
added out loud, ‘‘That is a queer-looking animal you 
have there!” 

“Yes,” answered Curdie. “She is no beauty. 
But she is very good and we love each other, don’t 
we, Lina?” 

Lina looked up and whined. Curdie threw her 
half of his loaf, which she ate while her master and 
the baker’s wife talked a little. Then the baker’s 
wife gave them some water. After Curdie had paid 
for his loaf and said good-by to the baker’s wife he 
and Lina went up the street together. And as he 
went Curdie could not help thinking that he was not 
getting a very good opinion of the people who lived 
in the king’s city. Somehow the habit of each man 
caring only about himself did not make them a very 
good sort, no matter how prosperous they were. And, 
if the king was served by this sort of people only, it 
might well be that he was in a great need of a differ- 
ent kind of helper. 

It was not long before he had a better chance still 
to see of what kind were the people of rich and 
prosperous Gwyntystorm. 


CHAPTER VI 

CURDIE’S RECEPTION IN GWYNTYSTORM 

The steep street led them straight up to a large 
market place, about which were many dogs. The 
moment they caught sight of Lina, one and all came 
rushing down upon her. When Curdie saw the dogs 
coming he heaved up his pickaxe over his shoulder 
and stood ready. A great, ugly bull-dog flew at him. 
With the first blow Curdie struck, the brute fell 
dead at his feet. Before he could get his weapon 
back a huge mastiff sprang at him. 

Now it was Linars turn. The instant she saw her 
master in danger she seemed to go mad with rage. 
As the mastiff jumped at Curdie ’s throat Lina flew 
at his, gave one roaring grind, and he lay beside 
the bull-dog with his neck broken. And now the 
dogs’ masters, the butchers, came rushing up, knives 
in hand. 

Curdie stood awaiting them fearlessly. Lina, at 
his heels, showed not only her outside row of icicle 
teeth but a double row of strong ones inside her 
mouth. Her green eyes flashed yellow as gold. The 
butchers did not like the look either of them or of the 
dogs at their feet. They drew back and began to 
scold and abuse them in words. They wound up by 
declaring that Lina should be burnt alive for her 
share in the work they had done. 


55 


56 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


^ ‘ Not yet, ’ ’ answered Curdie. ^ ‘ We have done no 
wrong. We were walking quietly up your street 
when your dogs charged upon us. If you don’t teach 
your dogs how to treat strangers, you must take what 
comes of it.” 

‘^They treat them quite properly,” said one of the 
butchers. What right has any one to bring a beast 
like that into our city? The horrid look of her is 
enough to make an idiot of every child in the place !” 

‘‘My poor animal cannot help her looks,” re- 
turned Curdie. “How would you like to be served 
like that because you are so ugly? She is not a bit 
fonder of her looks than you are of yours ! But what 
can she do to change them?” 

“I’ll change them!” shouted one fellow. 

They were all about to rush upon them again when 
Lina gave a howl that might have terrified an army 
and crouched to spring. The butchers took to their 
heels and ran. 

By this time a great crowd had gathered at a 
little distance. In it were a number of boys just out 
of school, who began to stone the strangers. It was 
a stupid way they had with anything they did not 
expect to get something out of. One of the stones 
struck Lina. She caught it in her teeth and crunched 
it so that it fell in gravel from her mouth. 

Seeing this, the crowd scattered in all directions. 
Every one rushed into his own house and began to 
shut and lock his door. By the time the setting sun 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


57 


shone down the street not a shop nor house was left 
open ; but all the upper windows within sight of them 
were crowded with heads watching Curdie and his 
dreadful dog as they stood lonely in the deserted 
market place. 

Curdie looked all aroimd and saw not one open 
door. Blit he caught sight of an inn which ought to 
take people in. So, laying down his pickaxe and 
telling Lina to stay and watch it, he walked up to this 
door. The people in the house, however, instead of 
opening the door, threw things at him from the win- 
dows. They would not listen to a word he said, but 
sent him back to Lina with the blood running down 
his face. 

When Lina saw that, she leaped up in a fury and 
was rushing at the house and would surely have 
broken into it. But Curdie called her back. As if she 
knew that it was she who had brought this trouble 
upon him, she went round and round him, purring 
like a tiger, and rubbing against his legs. 

Now, there was one poor little house squeezed in 
between two much finer ones. In this cottage lived an 
old woman named Derba with her little grandchild, 
called Barbara. This poor woman was disliked by 
the other people for no better reason than because 
she was quiet and kept to herself. She minded her 
own business and did not gabble and gossip ill- 
naturedly with the rest of them in the market place. 

While Curdie was wondering what in the world he 


58 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


Avould do next, the door of this small house opened. 
A little dark-haired, dark-eyed child came toddling 
out and across the market place toward them. The 
moment they saw little Barbara coming, Lina lay 
down flat and with her huge forepaws covered her 
mouth. Curdle went to meet her, holding out his 
arms. The child came straight to him, holding up 
her face to be kissed. Then she took him by the hand 
and began to pull him toward the house. 

But when Lina rose to follow, little Barbara was 
frightened. Curdie took her up, holding her on one 
arm and with the other hand patting Lina’s head. 
Then the child also wanted to pat ‘‘doggie,” and, hav- 
ing once patted her, nothing would do but Curdie 
must let her have a ride on doggie. So he set her on 
Lina’s back, holding her hand, and she rode home 
in merry triumph without thinking of all the eyes 
that were watching them from the upper windows. 

At the door the grandmother, Derba, stood to re- 
ceive them. She caught the child to her breast, wel- 
comed Curdie, and showed no fear of Lina. The 
people at the windows saw it. They began to gabble 
about it. They said it was just like the old witch to 
take in such a person and such a beast as that. No 
doubt they were old friends of hers, and they would 
plot mischief together flnely. But Derba was only a 
wise woman who had watched how Curdie received 
little Barbara, and judged from that what sort they 
were- So she had made them welcome to her house. 



so HE SET HER ON LINA'S BACK, HOLDING HER HAND 



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THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


59 


The moment her door was shut the other doors 
began to open. Soon little groups appeared about a 
doorway here and there. They murmured and 
gabbled over the affair, and asked and discussed what 
they should do about it next. A few of the bolder 
ones ventured to go out into the market place — all 
ready to make for their homes again, however, upon 
the least sign of movement in the little thatched house 
of Derba. 

And so they whispered and plotted about what 
they were going to do. Meantime, Curdie and Lina 
were sitting with the old woman and her grandchild, 
and they were all very comfortable and happy to- 
gether. Little Barbara sat upon Curdie ’s knee and 
he told her stories about the mines and what had 
happened to him in them. Derba sat and listened. 
At last little Barbara fell asleep in Curdie ’s arms, 
and not long after they all went to bed. 

In the night Curdie was wakened by Lina pulling 
at him. As soon as he spoke to her she ceased. Curdie 
listened and thought he heard some one trying to get 
in. He rose, took his pickaxe, and went about the 
house listening and watching. But though he heard 
noises, now at one place and now at another, he could 
not think what they meant, for no one appeared. 
Surely no one would attack Lina by night when she 
had scared them all so by day! By and by the noise 
ceased, and he went back to bed and slept quietly. 

In the morning Derba came to him and said they 


60 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


had fastened up the door from the outside so that she 
could not get out. And they found that not only the 
door but every window in the house was barred from 
the outside. They could not open one without using 
great force. Curdie burst out laughing! ‘‘They are 
much mistaken/^ he said, “if they fancy they could 
keep Lina and a miner like me in any house in 
Gwyntystorm — even if they built up the doors and 
windows!’’ 

He took up his pickaxe, but Derba begged him not 
to make a hole in her house just yet. She had plenty 
of food for breakfast, she said. Before it was time 
for dinner they would know what the people meant 
by it. And, indeed, they did! Within an hour the 
chief magistrate appeared, bringing a score of 
soldiers with drawn swords, and followed by a great 
crowd of people. They blew a blast on a trumpet 
and read a long paper before the door. They called 
upon Curdie to give up himself and his beast, that 
he might be tried for what he had done and his beast 
might be burnt alive! The moment the reading 
stopped Lina ran into the little passageway and 
stopped in front of the door. 

“I surrender!” cried Curdie. 

“Then tie up your brute and give her here !” 

“No, no!” cried Curdie through the door. “I 
surrender, but if you want my dog, you must take 
her!” 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


61 


^^Then we will set the house on fire and burn you 
and the witch and all!’’ 

^^Well, a few dozen of you may be killed first!” 
said Cur die. ^‘We are not in the least afraid of 
you!” Then he turned to Derba and said, Don’t 
be frightened! I am sure that all will be well. 
Surely no trouble will come to you for being good 
to strangers!” 

^^But the poor dog!” said Derba. 

Now Cur die and Lina understood each other more 
than a little by this time. He saw that she knew what 
was meant by the reading of that paper. And when 
she looked up at him after it was read it was with 
such a grin and with such a yellow fiash that he saw 
that she was ready to take care of herself. 

^^The dog will probably give you reason to think 
a little more of her before long,” he answered. ‘^But 
now,” he went on, am afraid I shall have to hurt 
your house a little. I hope, however, that I may be 
able to make up to you for it some day.” 

Never mind the house, if only you can get safely 
off,” she answered. don’t think they will hurt 
this precious lamb,” she added, clasping little 
Barbara to her breast. ^^For myself, it is all one. 
I am ready for anything!” 

^Ht is but a little hole for Lina I want to make,” 
said Curdie. ^ ^ She can creep through a much smaller 
one than you would think.” 

Again he took his pickaxe and went to the back 


62 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


wall. ‘^They won’t burn the house,” he said to him- 
self. ‘‘There is much too good a one on each side 
of it.” 

A hubbub had been going on all this time outside. 
And now, when they heard the sound of Curdie’s 
pickaxe, a great cry went up and the people taunted 
the soldiers for being afraid of a dog and a boy miner. 
So the soldiers made a rush at the door and cut its 
fastenings. 

The moment they opened it, out leaped Lina with 
a roar so horrible that the sword-arms of the soldiers 
dropped by their sides, stiff with fear, at that sound. 

The crowd fled in every direction, shrieking and 
yelling. Without even knocking a man down, not to 
speak of biting one, Lina vanished — ^no one knew 
whither, for no one dared to watch her. The moment 
she was gone Curdie came out and gave himself up. 
The soldiers were so filled with fear and angry shame 
that they were ready to kill him on the spot. But as 
the magistrate wanted to question him, and the people 
wanted him made an example of, the soldiers had 
to be content just to take him. So they seized him 
and laid his pickaxe across his back and tied his 
arms to it. 

They led him up a very steep street and up another 
still steeper, all the crowd following. The king’s 
palace-castle rose towering above them. They 
stopped, before they reached it, at a low door in a 
great, dull, heavy-looking building. This they 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


63 


opened with a key and ordered Curdie to enter. 
The place was as dark as night. While he was feel- 
ing his way with his feet some one gave him a rough 
push. He fell and rolled over once or twice, unable 
to help himself because his hands were tied behind 
him. They clapped the door to and locked him in. 

The reason they shut him up in this prison was 
because the chief magistrate did not want to do any- 
thing more with him just then. It was the hour of 
the magistrate’s second and more important break- 
fast. Until he had had that, he never wanted to 
attend to anything else. This was why Curdie was 
just locked up and had time to collect his thoughts. 

He had very few to collect, for all he had to do, so 
far as he could see, was to wait for what came next. 
In a few minutes he found, to his great relief, that his 
fall had loosened the ropes which bound him to his 
pickaxe. With a little pull he got one hand free, and 
then the other. He got to his feet, his pickaxe in his 
hand, and was once more ready for action. 


CHAPTER VII 

CURDIE FINDS HIS WAY TO THE PALACE 

After a while Curdie heard a sound outside of his 
prison door as if people were coming. The sound of 
feet and of voices began to grow so rapidly that it 
was plain a crowd was gathering. The noise grew 
till it was like the roaring of the sea. It went on a 
long time, for the chief magistrate did not like to 
hurry over his breakfast. He liked to be waited for. 
It made him feel important. 

But at last there came the creak of the great rusty 
key in the lock, which groaned as it turned. The 
door was thrown back and the light rushed in. Some 
voice began to read out another long paper calling on 
Curdie to come forth and give himself up to be tried 
for his life because he had done this and that and 
the other. The voice was still reading when a scream 
of terror arose on the farthest edge of the crowd. 

In a moment the air was filled with hideous howl- 
ing, shrieks of fear, and a wild noise of running feet. 
The next minute, in at the prison door bounded Lina, 
her green eyes flaming yellow as sunflowers. With 
one spring she threw herself at Curdie ’s feet and 
laid her head upon them, panting. Then came a rush 
of two or three soldiers at the doorway. But it was 
only to lay hold of the key, pull the door to, and lock 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


65 


it. Once more Curdie and Lina were prisoners to- 
gether in the dark. 

For a few moments Lina lay panting hard. It is 
breathless work, leaping and roaring both at once, 
to scatter thousands of people. Then she jumped 
up and began snuffing about aU over the place. Curdie 
now saw what he had never seen before — two faint 
spots of light cast from her eyes upon the ground. 
He got out his tinder-box — a miner is never without 
one — and lit a small piece of candle he had, just for 
a moment — for he must not waste it. 

The light showed him they were in a vault with no 
other opening than the door. It was very old and had 
plainly been used as a dump. A pile of rubbish 
sloped from the door to the opposite wall. Down 
in the angle between this back wall and the rubbish 
heap Lina was scratching with all her eighteen great, 
strong claws. 

^ ‘ Aha ! ’ ’ said Curdie, watching her. ‘ ‘ If only they 
will leave us long enough to ourselves He turned 
to the door to see if it had an inside fastening so that 
he could keep them from opening it. It had none, but 
with a blow or two of his pickaxe, he smashed the 
lock so that they could not turn the key in it on the 
outside, and that did just as well. Then he put out 
his candle and went back to Lina. 

She had now reached the rock of the floor. 
Presently she looked into his face and whined, as 


66 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


much as to say, ^‘My paws are not hard enough to 
get any further!’^ 

‘‘Then get out of my way, Lina,’’ said Curdie. 
“And mind you keep your eyes shining, for fear I 
might hit you.” 

So saying, he began to dig with his pickaxe. The 
rock was very hard, but when it did break it broke 
in good-sized pieces. He worked till he was weary. 
Then he rested and again set to work. The darkness 
hindered him greatly, for he would not let Lina come 
close enough to give all the light she could, for fear 
he should strike her. So he had every now and then 
to feel with his hands to know how he was getting on 
and where to strike next. 

He was getting very tired and hungry and a little 
discouraged. But just then out burst a dull, gleamy, 
lead-colored light, and the next moment he heard a 
hollow splash. A piece of rock had fallen out of the 
floor into some water down below. At once Lina was 
on her feet and peering down through the hole. Cur- 
die got down on his hands and knees and looked. 

They were over a cave in the rock. Through this 
cave a part of the river must be flowing, for at some 
distance below him a faint light was gleaming upon 
water. If they could get down to this water they 
might get out. Plainly, the first thing to do, then, 
was to make the hole bigger. It was now not so hard 
to break away the sides of it, and in another hour he 
had it large enough to get through. 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


67 


The rope they had tied Curdie’s hands with now 
came in handy. He made a slip-knot around his pick- 
axe so that he could lay this across the hole to hold 
him up, and then carefully got through the opening. 
First came a narrow cleft which afterward widened 
out into the cave itself. About two yards down he 
saw an opening on the other side of it, and made up 
his mind to explore that before trying to get down 
to the water. 

Pushing with his feet against the wall beside him, 
he swung himself over into this opening. He laid a 
piece of stone on the end of his rope to keep it there 
till he came back and began to feel his way in. It 
turned out to be a passageway, level for a short dis- 
tance and then sloping gently up. At the end his 
hands came upon a little door, studded with iron 
nails, but so rotten in places that he felt sure he 
could get it open. 

As this was plainly the way to get out, he went 
back for Lina and his pickaxe. He easily pulled him- 
self up the rope into the prison again and untied his 
pickaxe. Then he made Lina take the end of the rope 
in her teeth and lowered her through the hole. When 
she came opposite the passage, with a slight push of 
her tail she shot herself into it and let go the rope 
which Curdie drew up. 

He searched about in the rubbish for a piece of 
iron to put across the hole and tie the rope to in place 
of his pickaxe, which he wanted to take with him. 


68 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


Then he got an old shutter from the dump heap and 
leaned it over the hole, propping it up with a stick. 
Over this he piled a lot of light rubbish. Tying his 
pickaxe to the other end of his rope, he dropped it 
through the hole, and then got through himself. 
Holding on to the edge of the hole with one hand, he 
pulled away the stick and let the shutter with the 
rubbish on it fall over the hole to hide it. So if any 
one opened the door he would not know where Curdie 
had gone nor how he had got out. 

He swung himself into the passage beside Lina, 
and, having secured the end of the rope, they went 
on together to the door. He used his pocket-knife on 
a soft part of the door near the latch, and soon made 
room for his hand and arm to get through. On the 
other side he found a great iron bolt, but so rusty 
that he could not move it. Lina whimpered. He 
took his knife again, made the hole bigger, and stood 
back. In she shot her small head and long neck, 
seized the bolt with her teeth, and dragged it with a 
grating noise back. A push then opened the door. 
It was at the foot of a short flight of stairs. 

At the top Curdie felt that he was in a place of 
some size, but all was dark. Feeling about, his hands 
fell on a wine cask. He was about to go farther when 
he heard steps coming down another stair. He stood 
still, watching to see where the door would open. In 
another moment he heard the key turn in the lock and 
saw a light about flfteen yards to his right. A man 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


69 


with a candle in one hand and a large silver pitcher in 
the other came walking toward them, his light show- 
ing a long row of wine casks stretching away into 
the darkness. 

Very softly Curdie stole down the little stair he 
had come up and stood at the bottom, watching and 
wondering how he could keep the man from locking 
them in when he went out. On came the man and on, 
till Curdie was afraid he would come right up to them 
and see them. But, to his relief, the man stopped at 
the third cask away from them. 

Into this cask he poured something from the 
silver pitcher. Then, stepping to the next cask, he 
drew wine from that into his pitcher and rinsed it out 
again and again. Then he drew some more wine from 
the same cask and drank it. But it was plain that he 
did not wish to taste what he had had in the pitcher, 
nor drink from the cask into which he had poured it. 
But after drinking he filled his pitcher from the first 
cask and took up his candle to go. 

Curdie felt very sure that there was something 
wrong about what the man was doing. ‘‘Speak to 
him, Lina!’’ he whispered. 

The sudden howl she gave made Curdie himself 
start and tremble for a moment. The man was so 
frightened that he answered with another howl and, 
staggering about, dropped his candle on the fioor. 
The next moment, however, he recovered himself 
and fiew to the door and darted through it, leaving 


70 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


it open behind him. Curdie ran np the steps and 
picked np the candle, which was still alight. He sped 
after the man to the door, took out the key, and then 
ran back to the little stairs and waited. 

In a few minutes he heard the sound of feet and of 
voices. Swiftly he turned on the tap of the cask 
from which the man had been drinking and set the 
candle down beside it. Then, with Lina, he stole 
down the steps again and out of the little door, draw- 
ing it to behind them. Through the hole in it he 
could see a little and hear more. A crowd of servants 
poured into the place of the casks. Up and down, up 
and down and around, they ran, searching and search- 
ing and searching. They saw nothing except the wine 
running to waste where the candle sat. Then they 
turned on the man, who was doubtless the butler, and 
scolded and jeered at him. They told him he was 
drunk and silly. After quite a while the hubbub died 
down and they all went away without even pulling the 
door to behind them. 

Curdie was now sure that he was in the wine 
cellar of the king’s palace. The next thing he wanted 
to do was to find something to eat. Going softly to 
the door which the butler had come through, he got 
into a passage, at the end of which a door stood ajar. 
Peeking through this he saw a large dining hall 
through which men who wore the king’s colors were 
coming and going. Others lounged about a huge fire. 
But the most interesting thing was the supper on the 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


71 


table. At once Curdle decided to dash in and snatch 
something if he saw the least chance. He picked out a 
fine meat pie to seize if the chance should ever come. 
He watched a long time and no chance came. Then, 
just as he was about to give up in despair, he saw that 
every one had gone out of the hall. In he darted, 
snatched up the pie, and sped noiselessly back to the 
cellar. 

After eating up the meat pie to the very last 
criunb, there was nothing for Curdle and Lina to do 
but sit down and wait till the palace servants had all 
gone to bed. He was not at all sure that some of them 
might not come down into the cellar again. But 
perhaps they believed more of the butler’s story than 
they chose to say, for none of them appeared. 

As soon as he thought it safe to go Curdle took 
up his pickaxe and stole up again into the palace. 
Knowing that Lina would be quick to hide herself, 
he took her with him. When they reached the great 
dining hall they found it quiet and dark. One after 
another he came upon seven men fast asleep, most 
of them upon tables, one upon a chair, and one on the 
fioor. They seemed to have eaten and drunk so much 
that they might have been burnt alive without waking. 
He took hold of a hand of each and found two ox 
hoofs, three pig hoofs, one which he could not be sure 
was the hoof of a donkey or of a pony, and one dog 
paw. 


72 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


nice set of people to be about a king!” 
thought Curdie. 

Then they found their way into the kitchen, 
which was black with smoke. The place was dirty 
and disorderly. In one corner a kitchen-maid lay 
on the floor, a table cover around her and a skillet 
in her hand. In another lay a page, and Curdie 
was surprised to see how like the page’s dress was 
to his own. Around the hearth three dogs and flve 
cats lay asleep while rats were running over the 
floor. Curdie ’s heart ached to think of little Princess 
Irene living over such a sty. 

Next he found himself in the sculleries. There 
horrible smells were wandering about like evil 
spirits come out of the darkness. Everywhere was 
filth and ugliness. Mangy dogs were lying about, and 
gray rats were gnawing at refuse piled up in the 
sinks. It was like a hideous dream. Turning from 
it, he almost ran back through the kitchen into the 
hall. 

He next found a door that opened into a wide 
passage, and this led to an arch in a stately corridor 
whose whole length was lighted with lamps set in 
niches. At the end of it was a large and beautiful 
ante-room with great pillars. There sat three men 
in the king’s colors fast asleep, each in a great arm- 
chair with his feet on a huge footstool. They looked 
like fools dreaming themselves to be kings, and Lina 
growled as if she would like to choke them. At one 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


73 


side of this ante-room was the grand staircase, and 
up this they now went. 

Everything which met Cur die’s eyes here was 
rich — not glorious like the splendor of the cave in 
the mountain where his Lady of the Silver Moon had 
appeared to him and his father — ^but rich and soft. 
They wandered about a good while, coming back 
again and again to the same place. In this way 
Curdie was getting some idea of the place. 

By and by Lina began to look frightened, and 
as they went on she looked more and more frightened. 
By this time he had come to understand that what 
made her look frightened was always the fear of 
frightening some one. So now he knew that they 
must be coming near to somebody. 

Presently, in a beautiful gallery, he saw a curtain 
of crimson, and on the curtain a royal crown worked 
in silks and precious stones. He felt sure this must 
be the king’s chamber, and it was here that he was 
wanted. If it was not the place he was bound for, 
he was certain something would meet him and turn 
him back. So he gently lifted a corner of the cur- 
tain, and there behind it was a half -open door= He 
entered, and the moment he was in Lina stretched 
herself along the threshold between the curtain and 
the door. 


CHAPTER VIII 

CURDIE FINDS THE KING 

He found himself in a large room dimly lighted 
by a silver lamp that hung from the ceiling. Far 
at the other end was a great bed, hung around with 
dark, heavy curtains. He went softly toward it, his 
heart beating fast. It was a dreadful thing to be 
alone in the king’s chamber at dead of night. To 
gain courage he had to remind himself of his Lady 
of the Silver Moon who had sent him there. 

When he was about half way to the bed a figure 
appeared from the farther side of it and came toward 
him with a hand raised warningly. He stood still. 
He could just see the form of a young girl, and, 
though she was taller than he remembered, he knew 
it was the Princess Irene. Like the true princess he 
had known, she walked right on fearlessly to meet 
him. As she drew nearer, she laid her fingers on her 
lips for silence and then stood looking at him. 

‘‘You are Curdie,” she said. 

“And you are the Princess Irene,” he answered. 

‘ ‘ Then we know each other still, ’ ’ she said. ‘ ‘ And 
you will help me.” 

“That I will!” answered Curdie. (He did not 
say, “if I can,” for he knew that what he had been 
sent to do, that he could do.) “May I kiss your 
hand, little princess?” 

She held out her hand, saying, “I am not the 

74 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


75 


little princess any more. I have grown up since I 
saw you last, Mr. Miner.’’ 

‘‘So I see,” returned Our die, “and therefore, 
being more of a princess, you are more my princess ! 
Here I am, sent by your fairy grandmother to help 
you. But why are you up so late ? ’ ’ 

“Because my father wakes up so frightened. I 
do not know what he would do if he did not find me 
by his bedside. There ! He is waking now ! ’ ’ 

She darted off to the bed and Curdie stood where 
he was. A feeble voice, altogether unlike what he 
remembered of the noble king on his white horse, 
came from the bed, saying, “I will not! I will not! 
I am a king and I will be a king! I hate you and 
despise you, and you shall not torture me !” 

“Never mind, father dear!” said the princess. 
“I am here, and they shall not touch you. They 
dare not, you know, as long as you defy them!” 

“They want my crown, darling, and I can’t give 
them my crown, can I? For what is a king without 
his crown?” 

“They shall never have your crown, my king!” 
said Irene. “Here it is — all safe, you see. I am 
watching it for you.” 

Curdie drew near the bed on the other side. There 
lay the grand old king — grand still, though looking 
twenty years older. His body was pillowed high. 
His beard, long and white, fiowed down over the 
crimson coverlet around his crown with its hashing 
stones which lay before him. One thing made his 


76 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


face very dreadful. His eyes — ^whicli saw neither 
his daughter nor his crown — looked more dead than 
his face. 

Presently his murmuring ceased, though his lips 
still moved. Thus lay the old king slumbering, his 
crown between his hands. On one side of him stood 
a lovely little maiden with blue eyes and fair hair 
going a little back from her temples. On the other 
stood the young miner with his pickaxe over his 
shoulder. Stranger sight still was Lina lying across 
the threshold — only nobody saw her just then. 

When the king’s breathing grew quiet again the 
princess gave a sigh of relief and came around to 
Curdie. ‘ ^ We can talk a little now, ’ ’ she said, leading 
him toward the middle of the room. ‘‘My father will 
sleep now till the doctor wakes him to give him his 
medicine. It is not really medicine, though, but 
wine.” 

(“Wine!” said Curdie to himself, and thought 
of what he had seen the butler do in the wine cellar.) 

“The doctor says,” the little princess went on, 
“that nothing but that could have kept him alive so 
long. He always comes in the middle of the night to 
give it to him with his own hand. But it makes me 
cry to see him wake him up when he is so nicely 
asleep!” 

“What sort of a man is your doctor?” asked 
Curdie. 

“Oh, such a dear, good, kind gentleman!” replied 
Irene. “He speaks so softly and is so sorry for his 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


77 


dear king ! He will be bere soon and you shall see 
for yourself/^ 

‘'Has your king-father been long ill?’’ asked 
Cur die. 

“A whole year now,” she answered. “Did you 
not know ? They told me the whole land was mourn- 
ing over it.” 

Now Curdie had not heard a word of his majes- 
ty’s illness, nor did he think that a single person in 
any place through which he had come had heard of it. 
Why were they lying to the princess? 

“Does the king wander like this every night?” 
he asked her. 

“Every night!” said Irene, shaking her head 
sadly. “That is why I never go to bed at night. He 
is better during the day — a little. And then I sleep 
in the dressing room there, so as to be with him in 
a moment if he calls me.” 

“I wish he would like me,” said Curdie. “Then 
I might watch by him at night and let you go to bed, 
princess.” 

“Don’t you know, then?” returned Irene, in 
wonder. “How was it you came? Ah, you said my 
fairy grandmother sent you. But I thought you 
knew he wanted you!” 

“Not I!” said Curdie, wondering, but very glad. 

“He used to be constantly saying that he wished 
he had you about him. So they wrote to the miner- 
general to find you and send you here. But they 
told us they had searched every mine in the kingdom 


78 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


and could not find you. Where were you, Curdle, 
that they could not find you?^’ 

Now Curdle was sure that these were only more 
lies that they had been telling her. So all he said 
was, ‘‘I will tell you about that another time, when 
you are not expecting the doctor.’^ 

As he spoke his eyes fell upon something shining 
on the table under the lamp. His heart gave a great 
throb. Yes, there could be no doubt about it! It 
was the same silver pitcher which the butler had 
filled in the cellar when Curdle first got into it 
through the little old door. The butler had first 
poured something into the cask and then carefully 
rinsed out the pitcher before he himself drank ! And 
then he drank from another cash! Poison! It 
fiashed upon Curdle in an instant that this was what 
they were giving the king in his wine. Now, how 
could he prevent their giving him any more ? 

‘^When will the doctor be here?’’ he asked Irene 
hurriedly. He wanted to know if he had time to 
run to the cellar, rinse out the pitcher, and fill it with 
good wine before the doctor came. 

His question was answered not by the princess 
but by something which at that instant tumbled 
heavily into the room. Curdle flew toward the door 
to see what had happened to Lina. He saw on the 
floor a little round man puffing and blowing and 
muttering things they could not hear. 

^‘Oh, dear Doctor Kelman!” cried the princess. 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


79 


rimniiig up and taking hold of his arm. ‘‘I am so 
sorry She pulled and pulled, but might almost as 
well have tried to set up a cannon ball. ‘‘I hope you 
have not hurt yourself!” 

‘‘Not at all! Not at all!” said the doctor, trying 
to smile and to rise both at once, but finding it im- 
possible to do either. 

“If he slept on the fioor he would be late for 
breakfast,” said Curdie to himself, and held out his 
hand to help the man up. But when he took hold of 
the doctor’s hand he very nearly let it fall again! 
For what he held was not even a paw or a hoof — it 
was just like a snake ! 

“Our royal highness has rather a thick mat at the 
door,” said the doctor, turning to Irene and thinking 
that Curdie was only a page. “I hope my awkward- 
ness may not have startled his majesty.” 

While he talked Curdie went to the door to see 
what had become of Lina, but she was not there. He 
came back, still wondering how he was going to get 
a chance to pour out the poisoned wine he felt sure 
was in that pitcher and fill it with good wine for the 
king. Meantime the doctor approached the bed. 

“How has my beloved king slept to-night?” he 
asked. 

“No better!” answered Irene, with a mournful 
shake of her head. 

“Ah! that is very well,” said the doctor, without 
thinking what he was saying. “We must give him 
his wine and then he will be better still.” 


80 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


At the word Curdie darted at the pitcher, and 
lifted it high, as if he expected to find it full and 
had found it empty. 

^^That stupid butler! I heard them say he was 
drunk!’’ he cried in a loud whisper, and was gliding 
from the room. 

‘‘Come here with that pitcher, you page!” cried 
the doctor. 

Curdie came a few steps toward him, dangling the 
pitcher down from his hand so that the wine all ran 
out of it. It fell without noise on the thick crimson 
carpet, where it did not show. 

“Do you know, young man,” said the doctor, 
“that it is not every wine that can do his majesty the 
good I intend he shall get from my prescription?” 

“I know it, sir,” answered Curdie. “The wine 
for his majesty’s use is in the third cask from the 
corner.” (But he was quite determined that his 
majesty should never have a drop from that cask 
again if he could help it!) 

“Fly then!” said the doctor, looking satisfied. 

Curdie stopped outside the curtain and blew a 
low breath — ^no more. Up came Lina like a shadow. 
He showed her the pitcher. “The cellar, Lina,” he 
said. 

She galloped away on her soft feet and Curdie 
had indeed to fiy to keep up with her. Not once did 
she make a wrong turn. From the king’s beautiful 
chamber down to the cold cellar they shot. There 
Curdie rinsed out the pitcher very carefully, as he 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


81 


had seen the butler do. Then he filled it from the 
cask out of which he had seen the butler drink. For 
he knew that that must be very good wine indeed — 
the best in the cellar. That done, he hastened up with 
it again to the king’s room. 

The little doctor took it, poured out a full glass, 
smelt but did not taste it — ^he did not care to taste the 
kind he thought Curdie had brought — and set it 
down. Then he leaned over the bed, shouted in the 
king’s ear, and blew upon his eyes. He pinched his 
arm, and Curdie was sure he saw him run something 
bright into it. 

“They are poisoning him with something beside 
wine !” he said to himself when he saw that. 

At last the king half woke. The doctor seized 
the glass, raised the king’s head, poured the wine 
down his throat, and let his head fall back on the 
pillow again. Wiping his majesty’s beard with a 
show of tenderness, and bidding the princess good- 
night with a show of affection, the snake-handed 
doctor then took his leave. Curdie would have been 
glad to drive his pickaxe into his head as he went. 
But he felt that he had not been sent to do that and 
so let him go. 

The little round man looked carefully to his feet 
as he crossed the threshold again. But there was 
nothing there to trip him. 

“That polite fellow of a page has taken away the 
mat,” he said as he walked along the corridor. “I 
must remember him !” 

6 


CHAPTER IX 

CUEDIE FINDS GOOD FOOD FOR THE KING 

It was plain enough to Curdie how things were 
going. He saw also that he must have the princess 
of one mind with him and they must work together. 
It was clear that among those about the king there 
was a plot against him. They had been telling the 
princess lies about several things, and Curdie was 
sure that the doctor was tr3dng to ruin the king’s 
health and reason. That done, they could do what 
they liked, whether he lived or died. Curdie thought 
that in the end they meant to kill the king and marry 
the princess to one of themselves, who would then 
rule over the land. 

The first thing to see to, therefore, was that his 
majesty should neither eat nor drink anything pre- 
pared in the palace. If he could have prevented this 
without letting the princess know why, he would 
rather not have told her what must, of course, terrify 
her. But it must be done. It was clear that his 
Lady of the Silver Moon had sent him for just this 
work. As for the way in which he was to do it, he 
was sure he might do anything to fool these traitors 
short of lying to them. 

While he stood thinking about these things, the 
princess was watching the king with looks of childish 
82 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


83 


love and tenderness which went to Curdie’s heart. 
Now and then, with a great fan of peacock feathers, 
she would fan him very softly. If a cloud seemed 
to gather over his face she would bend over and 
whisper in his ear. Then the king would sleep again 
quietly. 

Curdie came a little nearer and called her softly. 
In a few moments she came to him where he stood 
under the silver lamp. Then he told her all his story 
— ^how her fairy grandmother had sent her white 
pigeon for him — how she burned his hands in the 
fire of roses to make them able to tell whether people 
were good or bad — ^how she had sent him there that 
he might help the king and his little princess — and, 
lastly, of the state of things he had found downstairs 
in her palace. 

^‘You frighten me dreadfully!” said Irene, 
trembling. ^^What is to be done? How am I to 
believe such horrible things of Doctor Kelman?” 

Either you must believe it of him,” said Curdie, 
‘^or you must doubt your fairy grandmother. For it 
is by the gift she gave me in my hands that I know 
that he is a snake. Do you not see he is doing wrong 
to your father? Is not the king sleeping better since 
he had the wine?” 

^^Yes,” said Irene. 

^^Does he always sleep better after having it?” 

She thought a moment and then answered, No, 
always worse — till to-night!” 


84 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


‘‘Then remember it was the wine I got for him — 
not that which the doctor ordered and the butler 
brought. Nothing that passes through any hand in 
the house except yours or mine must reach his majes- 
ty’s lips till he is well.” 

“But how can we manage that, dear Curdie?” 
said the princess, almost crying. 

“We must find some way, ’ ’ answered Curdie. ‘ ‘ I 
know how to take care of the wine. But for the food 
— we must think!” 

“He hardly takes any,” said Irene with a sad 
shake of her little head. 

“The more need,” replied Curdie, “that there 
should be no poison in it. As soon as he has honest 
food he will begin to grow better. But good food! 
Where shall I find it?” 

“I would go with you to hunt some,” said the 
princess, “but I dare not leave my father. Alas! he 
scarcely ever takes more than a mouthful. I can’t 
think how he lives! And the very thing he would 
like and often asks for — a bit of bread — I can hardly 
ever get for him. The doctor has forbidden it!” 

“Bread at least he shall have!” said Curdie. 
“That with the honest wine will do as well as any- 
thing, I do believe. I will go at once and look for 
some. But I want you to see Lina first and know 
her so that you will not be frightened at her.” 

“I should like much to see her,” said the princess. 

Curdie went to the door and called his strange 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


85 


creature. Lina came in, creeping with downcast 
head, and dragging her tail over the floor. Curdie 
watched Irene as the queer animal came nearer and 
nearer. One shudder went through her from head 
to foot. Lina dropped flat on the floor and covered 
her face with her big paws. It went to the heart of 
the princess. In a moment she was on her knees 
beside her, stroking the ugly head. 

^‘In Lina’s paw,” said Curdie, ^‘I feel the hand 
of a child. So I know she was once a woman and 
grew bad. Now she is growing good again. And 
now that you have seen her, shall I take her with 
me or leave her here with you?” 

‘‘Leave her, poor dear,” said Irene. So Curdie, 
knowing his way about now without Lina, left her 
there and went away alone. But, hunt as he would 
downstairs, he could And nothing that looked like 
wholesome food. He was forced to return to the 
princess with empty hands. As they were talking 
things over again he suddenly thought of something 
else he could do. 

As soon as it was light he would go back into the 
city of Gwyntystorm for bread. This plan he told 
to Irene, and asked her for a handkerchief to tie 
up the loaf in. For if he could not bring it himself 
he would send it by Lina, who could keep out of sight 
better than he could. Then as soon as all was quiet 
he would come to her again. And when the king 


86 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


waked she must tell him that he, Curdie, was in the 
house and ready to serve him faithfully. 

His hope in making the plan about the bread lay 
in the fact that everywhere the bakers go to work 
early. But as yet it was much too early. So he 
persuaded the princess to lie down and sleep, promis- 
ing to call her if the king should stir. But his 
majesty slept quietly, and the dawn had almost grown 
to day before he could bring himself to waken the 
princess. At last he did, and when she came she 
said she felt quite fresh, for she had slept well. 

Then Curdie took up his pickaxe and started 
off, followed by Lina. As they went through the ser- 
vants’ hall they took some breakfast and ate it after 
they reached the cellar. Then they went down the 
flight of steps which led to the little old door by which 
he had flrst got into the cellar, through this and 
along the passageway. There Curdie found his rope, 
and, drawing himself up it, pushed away the shutter 
that covered the hole and so got back into his old 
prison. Then he swung the end of the rope back to 
Lina, who caught it in her teeth and gave a great 
spring. Such a spring she gave that she came within 
a few feet of the hole. The instant she got a paw 
through this she was all through. 

There was no sign that any one had tried to open 
the door while they had been gone. The people were 
only too willing to let them stay there and starve. 
A blow from the pickaxe knocked off the lock. Tell- 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


87 


ing Lina to wait there and let no one in, Curdie 
walked out into the silent street and drew the door 
to behind him. 

In the faint morning light he made his way 
straight down the middle of the street till he came 
to the city gate. He soon found the baker’s shop 
where he had bought his loaf of bread from the 
baker’s wife. Here he stopped and stood silently 
waiting till some one should appear and open the 
shop. After quite a while a man came out with a pail 
and went off to a pump for water. 

Curdie at once stole in through the half -open door. 
He remembered perfectly the shelf from which the 
baker’s wife had taken the loaf she said was the best. 
There was one on it now. Seizing it, he laid down the 
price of it on the counter and sped softly out and up 
the street. 

Once more in the prison beside Lina, his first 
thought was to fasten up the door again. Then it 
occurred to him that if he left it as it was and they 
came to find him they would think he had got out that 
way. So they would not search about and find the 
hole in the floor, and he could come and go that way 
again if he chose. 

Back in the cellar he had to find out how to get 
the loaf to the princess. He crept to the door of the 
servants’ hall and found everybody astir there. 
Plainly it would not do for him to try to pass through. 
So down he went to the cellar again. He took out 


88 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


Irene’s handkerchief from his pocket and with it 
tied the loaf about Lina’s neck. And Lina, in her 
own peculiar way, slid through shadows and around 
corners and down dimly-lighted corridors till she 
once more reached the chamber of the king. 

Irene trembled a little as she saw her glide noise- 
lessly into the room. . But the bundle about Lina’s 
neck filled hqr with joy. It both told her of Cur die’s 
safety and gave her hope for her father. 

And now the king waked and wanted food. If 
only he might have a piece of nice fresh bread, he 
said. Irene had no knife, but with eager hands she 
broke a great piece from her loaf and poured out a 
full glass of wine. The king ate and drank and at 
once fell asleep again. It was some hours later before 
the lazy people in the palace brought up some break- 
fast for the princess and the king. When it came 
Irene crumbled a little about, threw some into the 
fireplace, and managed to make the tray look just 
as usual. 

By and by Doctor Kehnan returned to see the 
king. Now that Irene had been told by Curdie what 
he really was, she could see that he was not at all 
pleased to find the king some better. But he tried 
to cover it up by saying that he was glad to find his 
majesty well enough this morning to see his lord 
chamberlain, who had an important paper for him 
to sign. But he must warn his majesty, he said, not to 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


89 


try to read or understand this paper — for that he 
was too weak — but just to sign it. 

When the doctor went away Irene gave her father 
more bread and wine. The king ate and drank and 
smiled a feeble smile — the first real one she had seen 
for many a day. Then the princess told him that 
Curdie was come and that at night, when all was 
quiet (for nobody in the palace must know it), he 
would pay his majesty a visit. Her fairy grand- 
mother had sent him, she said. The king looked 
strangely upon her as she told him this, but the 
strange look passed into a smile clearer than the 
first. Irene’s heart throbbed with delight, for she 
saw that the king’s courage had come back. 

At noon the lord chamberlain came in. With a 
long, low bow, and with a paper in his hand, he 
stepped softly into the room. He was a lean, long, 
yellow man with a small head. He had a very thin 
hooked nose and eyes that were small, sharp, and 
glittering and as black as jet. He had hardly enough 
of a mouth to make a smile with. His left hand held 
the paper, and the long, skinny fingers of the right 
a pen just dipped in ink. 

The king was so much himself again as to resolve 
at once not to sign that paper until he knew what was 
in it. It might be something to sign away his rights 
and those of his little princess. So he asked the lord 
chamberlain to read it to him first. Now this was 
just what the lord chamberlain did not wish to do. 


90 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


He wished the king to sign the paper without know- 
ing what was in it. He stammered and stumbled 
so over the reading that the king could not make out 
what it was about. So he stopped the lord chamber- 
lain and called to Irene. 

^‘Tou can read print well, my child,’’ he said. 
‘‘Let me hear how you can read writing. Take that 
paper from his lordship’s hand and read it slowly 
from beginning to end.” 

But this the lord chamberlain wanted just as 
little. He insisted that the princess should not be put 
to such a task, and at last said angrily that his dignity 
was offended by having a child set to read his paper. 

“It would be to make sport of my business, your 
majesty,” he said. “This paper is much too im- 
portant to trifle with!” 

“Then it is too important for me to deal with 
while I am ill,” said the king, wearily. 

“Will your majesty please to sign your name 
here?” said the lord chamberlain, thinking the king 
had given up the struggle. 

“I will not sign the paper to-day,” answered the 
king. 

The lord chamberlain still tried to persuade him, 
but the king refused again and again. At last the 
lord chamberlain had to go without getting what he 
came for. He was furious. And well might he be 
furious, for that paper was the king’s will, and the 
plotters could do nothing further until he had signed 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


91 


it. Now the doctor had promised them that the 
king’s brain should be so weakened by his treatment 
that he would do anything they asked. The lord 
chamberlain sent in a rage for Doctor Kelman. The 
doctor had to confess that somehow the king seemed 
better. But he promised faithfully that he would 
soon have him too weak to resist them again. 

If the king’s officers were angry, however, the 
princess was in high delight. Not for weeks had she 
heard so many words — not to say words of such 
strength and reason — from her father’s lips. Even 
now he was tired out after this effort. But he asked 
for more bread and wine, and, when he had taken 
them, fell into another quiet and restful sleep. 


CHAPTER X 

CTJEDIB DISPOSES OF THE DOCTOR 

The day went on. When his majesty was awake 
the princess read to him one story book after an- 
other. And whatever she read the king listened as 
if he had never heard anything so good before. Every 
now and then he asked for a piece of bread and a 
glass of wine. Then he slept, and when he woke up 
he seemed better. The princess did her part in the 
eating, too; so that the loaf was eaten up and the 
pitcher emptied before night. The butler took away 
the pitcher and filled it. But, as she dared not touch 
that wine, Irene and her father were both thirsty 
and hungry when Curdie came back. 

He and Lina had spent the day in the cellar, rest- 
ing and sleeping. When supper time came Curdie 
took his place at the door into the servants’ hall. 
After a long hour’s watch in vain he began to fear 
he should get nothing, so many people were coming 
and going all the time. It was very hard to bear, 
because he had his eye on a splendid loaf just out of 
the oven which he longed to get for the king and the 
princess. At last he saw his chance, pounced on the 
loaf and a meat pie beside, and carried them away. 

This time both pie and loaf were missed. The 
cook was called. He swore he had sent in both and 

92 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


93 


some one must have taken them for some friend out- 
side the palace. A house-maid who had not been 
there long said she saw some one who looked like a 
page running toward the cellar with something in 
his hands. This brought trouble on all the pages. 
At last all the other servants set out for the cellar 
to hunt out the guilty page. 

Curdie and Lina heard them coming and quickly 
got out of the little back door. Prom there they 
could hear all that went on. When the servants 
could find nothing and nobody, they all turned on the 
house-maid and told her she was the thief herself. 
They jeered and nagged and scolded her for a long 
time. Curdie was much disgusted with their 
language and their ways. Moreover, he saw how 
much danger of discovery by them he ran now, and 
made up his mind that the only thing to do was to 
drive them all out of the palace. He thought he knew 
a way to do it, too. This plan he told to Lina, for he 
had long been sure that she understood every word 
he said to her. And now, by the wagging of her tail 
and the hashing of her eyes, he saw that she under- 
stood perfectly just what was to be done. 

But they cordd do nothing till they got the king 
safely through the worst part of this same night. 
And all they could do now was to wait till the house- 
hold should be asleep. This waiting was hard for 
Curdie, and it occurred to him that there was some- 
thing he could do to pass the time. He took his pick- 


94 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


axe and a lighted candle-end and went down into the 
little back passageway. With a miner’s instinct, he 
was going to see what kind of rock it was made of. 
When he first came to Gwyntystorm and broke the 
stone in the street over which the baker had fallen 
he saw some shining specks in it which he took to be 
gold ore. Now he would see if there were enough of 
it in the rock to pay for digging it out. 

He had not been long at work before he was sure 
that there was. And as soon as he could get the king 
free from rogues and villains he would have all the 
best and most honest miners, with his father at their 
head, to work this rock for the king. The time passed 
quickly while he was at his old work of digging. 
When he left the passage to go at last to the king’s 
chamber he had already a good big heap of frag- 
ments behind the broken door. 

As soon as he had reason to hope that the way was 
clear Curdie stole softly into the hall with Lina 
behind him. There was no one asleep on the bench 
or on the fioor. But by the fading fire sat a girl 
weeping. It was the same house-maid who had seen 
him carrying off the food, and had been so abused 
by the others for saying so. She opened her eyes 
wide when he appeared, but did not seem frightened 
at him. 

know why you weep,” said Curdie, ‘‘and I am 
sorry for you.” 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


95 


‘‘It is hard not to be believed just because one 
speaks the truth 1’’ said the girl. 

“You are a stranger,’’ she added, weeping again, 
“but the stranger you are to such a place and such 
people, the better!” 

“I am the person,” said Cur die, “whom you saw 
carrying the things from the supper table.” He 
showed her the loaf. “If you can trust me as well as 
speak the truth, I will trust you. Will you trust 
me?” 

She looked at him steadily a moment. Then, “I 
can,” she answered. 

“One thing more,” said Curdie. “Have you 
courage as well as faith?” 

“I think so.” 

“Look my dog in the face and don’t cry out! 
Come here, Lina!” 

Lina obeyed. The girl looked at her and laid her 
hand on her head. 

“Now I know you are a true woman,” said Cur- 
die. “I am going to set things right in this house. 
Not one of the servants knows I am here. Will you 
tell them to-morrow morning that if they do not 
change their ways and give over lying and drinking 
and stealing they shall every one be driven from the 
palace?” 

“They will not believe me.” 

“Most likely. But will you give them the 
chance?” 


96 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


‘‘I will/’ 

^ ^ Then I will be your friend, ’ ’ said Curdie. ‘ ‘ Now 
wait here till I come again. ” 

When he reached the royal chamber he found his 
majesty awake and very anxious to see him. He 
received Curdie with the utmost kindness. He at 
once put himself in Curdie ’s hands by telling him all 
he knew about the state he was in. His voice was 
still feeble, but his eye was clear. 

The king said he had long been losing heart over 
the wickedness of his people. He tried hard to make 
them good, but they got worse and worse. The main 
cause of his illness was that he worried over this. 
The whole country was discontented, he said. They 
told him his army would no longer obey him; that 
his great white horse was dead ; that his sword had 
lost its keenness. They came at night and tried to 
steal his crown, and a demon in the shape of his 
physician came and poured poison down his throat. 

The talking made him faint, and Curdie seized 
the wine pitcher and ran down to the wine cellar. 
In the servants’ hall the girl still sat by the fire wait- 
ing for him. As he came back he told her to follow 
him, and left her at the chamber door till he came out 
again. After the king had had a little wine Curdie 
told him about the doctor — ^that it was the doctor 
himself who had been coming every night and giving 
him slow poison. 

^^So !” said the king. ‘‘Then it was not a dream! 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 97 

Is it possible be can be such a wretch? Whom am I 
to trust?’’ 

‘‘Not one in the house except the princess and 
myself,” answered Curdie. 

“I will not go to sleep,” said the king. 

“No, no, sire!” said the boy. “You must show 
your trust by leaving all the watching to me, and 
doing all the sleeping your majesty can.” 

The king smiled a contented smile, turned on his 
side, and was soon fast asleep. Then Curdie per- 
suaded the princess also to go to sleep. He now left 
Lina to watch, and went out to the house-maid wait- 
ing at the door. He asked the maid if she could tell 
him which of the king’s counsellors slept in the 
palace, and if she could show him their rooms. She 
knew every one of them, she said, and took him the 
round of all the rooms, telling him which one slept 
in each room. He then let her go, and, going back 
to the king’s chamber, sat down behind a curtain 
at the head of the bed. He told Lina to get under the 
bed and make no noise. 

About one o ’clock the doctor came stealing in. He 
looked around for the princess and, seeing no one, 
smiled and went up to the pitcher of wine. He 
poured some into a glass and then took from his 
pocket a small bottle and filled up the glass from 
that. The light fell upon his face, and Curdie could 
plainly see the snake in it. He now went to the bed, 
set down the glass, and began to rouse the king in his 

7 


98 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


usual rude way. When his majesty did not wake at 
once, he took a lancet from his pocket with a low hiss 
of hate. Just then Curdie stooped and whispered to 
Lina, ‘‘Take him by the leg!’’ 

She darted noiselessly upon him. With a face of 
horror the doctor gave his leg a tug to free it. The 
next instant Curdie heard the crunch with which she 
crushed the bone like a stalk of celery. The doctor 
tumbled over on the floor with a yell. 

“Drag him out, Lina,” said Curdie. 

Lina took him by the collar and dragged him out. 
Curdie went with her to show her what to do. They 
took him to the lord chamberlain’s door and left him 
lying in front of it. There the doctor gave another 
yell and fainted. 

The king had waked at his first cry. Just as Cur- 
die came back his majesty had got at his sword, which 
hung by the bed, had drawn it, and was trying to 
get out of bed. When Curdie told him all was well he 
lay down again quietly. Then Curdie went back to 
the door to watch what happened. 

The doctor’s yells had roused many, but no one 
had yet dared to appear. Bells were rimg, but no 
one answered. And in a moment or two Curdie saw 
what he had hoped would happen. The door of the 
lord chamberlain’s room opened and his lordship 
peeped out, pale with terror. Seeing no one, he 
stepped out into the corridor — and tumbled over the 
doctor ! 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


99 


At once Curdie ran np and held out his hand to 
help him up. In the hand which he received he felt 
the claw of a bird of prey — a vulture or an eagle, he 
could not tell which ! His lordship was soon on his 
legs. Taking Curdie for one of the pages, he abused 
him for not coming sooner, and threatened to have 
him turned out of the king’s service. Then, catching 
sight of the doctor on the floor, he began to abuse 
Curdie again, and ordered him to go for help at once. 

Curdie left him, but slipped into the king’s 
chamber, closed and locked the door, and left the 
rascals to look after each other. Soon he heard 
hurrying footsteps, then a great noise of scuffling 
feet, low voices and deep groans ; then all was still. 
Curdie looked for the princess, and found she had 
slept quietly through it all. So Curdie sat down once 
more to guard the king. For the rest of the night 
he watched every motion of the sleeping king. At 
sunrise he called the princess. 

‘ ‘ How has his majesty slept ? ’ ’ were her flrst words. 

Quite quietly,” answered Curdie. ^^That is, 
ever since the doctor was got rid of.” 

‘^How did you manage that?” inquired Irene, and 
Curdie had to tell her all about it. ^‘His majesty 
went off to sleep again in a moment or two,” he 
added. ^^For a little while he was restless, and once, 
when he lifted his hand, it came down on the spikes 
of his crown and he half waked.” 

‘‘But where is the crown!” cried Irene. 


100 THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 

^‘Look!^’ said Curdie, moving away from the bed- 
side. In the middle of the floor the princess saw a 
strange sight. Lina lay at full length, fast asleep. 
Between her two paws that met in front of it, her 
nose just touching it behind, glowed and flashed the 
crown. 

^^But what if a thief should come and she not 
wake?’’ said Irene. 

^^Lina!” said Curdie. 

She was on her feet in an instant, her great tail 
sticking straight out behind her. 

‘^Good doggie!” said the princess, patting her 
head. Then Irene took up the crown and laid it 
where the king could see it. 

‘^Now, princess,” said Curdie, ^‘I must leave you 
for a few minutes. You must bolt the door, please, 
and not open it to any one.” 

He knew it was time to set about the plan he had 
spoken about to Lina by which they could drive the 
bad servants out of the palace. So away Curdie went 
to the cellar with his great dog, taking care as they 
passed through the dining hall to get her a good 
breakfast. Then out of the cellar and through the 
passage till Curdie pulled himself up into the prison 
again. He pulled up Lina, opened the door, let her 
out, and shut it again behind her. By the time he 
got back to the door of the king’s chamber Lina was 
flying out of the gate of Gwyntystorm as fast as her 
mighty legs could carry her ! 


CHAPTER XI 

CURDIE DRIVES OUT THE BAD SERVANTS 

That same morning in the dining hall all the ser- 
vants began to behave in a very ugly manner to the 
house-maid. She had promised Curdie to give them 
one more chance, but it was hard to bear with the 
way they treated her. ^^What has come to you!’’ 
growled one. ‘^Are we all dirt, do you think? Do 
you want to be treated as you deserve, or will you 
speak and say why you go around looking like that?” 

‘^You will not believe me,” answered the girl, 
course, not! Why should we? But let us 

hear!” 

‘Ht is this, then. If you do not repent of your 
bad ways, you are all going to be punished — all 
turned out of the palace together.” 

^ ‘ A mighty punishment ! ’ ’ cried the butler. ‘ ‘ And 
what have I to repent of?” 

^‘That you know best yourself!” said the girl. 

‘‘Pray, Miss Judgment, who gave you such an 
impudent message to us ? ” 

“One who is going to set things right in the king’s 
house. He told me to tell you that the servants of 
this house had to repent of thieving and lying and 
drinking and unkindness. And they will be made to 
repent of them in one way, if they do not do it of 
themselves in another.” 


101 


10 £ 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


Then arose a great hubbub. ^‘Thieving indeed!” 
cried one with a bad conscience in that direction. 
‘^Drinking!” cried another who often stole down into 
the wine cellar. ‘‘Lying!” said a great, coarse foot- 
man. “Unkindness!” shouted still another. They 
all fell furiously upon the house-maid. They 
hustled her along the passage to the cellar stairs, 
pushed her down it, and locked the door upon her. 
That is how the servants repented ! 

Meantime, Curdie had to wait until evening be- 
fore Lina would return and help him with his plan. 
He watched with the king, and read to his majesty, 
and helped Irene put the room in order, for no 
servants came near them. When the dark finally 
came, he took his pickaxe and, telling Irene to lock 
the door and let no one in, sped away to the cellar. 
At the top of the cellar stairs he found, to his sur- 
prise, that the door was locked. His pickaxe soon 
opened it. At once some one laid a hand on his arm. 

“Who is it?” said Curdie, somewhat startled. 

“I told you they would not believe me,” said the 
house-maid. “I have been here all day.” 

“Come with me now,” said Curdie. “I will see 
that they do not harm you again.” 

He left her in a safe corner in the cellar to wait 
for him, and hurried on into the passageway and up 
into the prison. Lina had done her part. The 
place was swarming with creatures. All about the 
vault lay and stood and squatted those queer forty- 
nine animals which Lina had overcome when she and 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 103 

Curdie were coming through the forest to Gwynty- 
storm. 

The first thing to do was to get them into the cellar 
as fast as he could. But how was he to make the hole 
big enough for the big ones? A way was soon found 
for that. One creature had a head like a great club. 
He began to pound aroimd the sides of the hole to 
loosen more of the rock. Then came one like a tapir 
with a nose a yard long, the end of which seemed to 
be made of very hard steel. He began to gnaw the 
edge of the hole in such a way that the rock fell like 
a shower of gravel into the water below. In a few 
minutes the hole was big enough around for all of 
them to pass through, be they big or little. 

But now, how was he to get them down? A full 
half of them were too heavy for his rope and his 
arms! This was a good deal of a puzzle. At last 
he sent Lina down to show them the way, thinking 
that that would induce some of them to follow. But 
no one of them seemed to want to be the first to try. 
One by one the creatures came to the hole and looked 
down after Lina, and each in turn drew back as if to 
say to the next one behind him, ‘‘Now you have a 
look!’’ 

At length it came to the turn of the big serpent 
with the four short, stumpy legs behind and the 
fluttering little wings in front. No sooner had he 
poked his head through than he poked it farther still 
—farther and farther yet, till only his legs and tail 
were left in the prison. His head and neck reached 


104 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


clear across into the passage beside Lina. He gave 
a little scramble with his feet and in a moment he was 
all across. 

‘^That is all very well for you, Mr. Leg-serpent!^’ 
thought Curdie. ‘‘But what about the rest?” 

Just then the creature’s head came back up again 
and he caught hold of the iron bar and settled it 
firmly across the hole. From there he stretched clear 
down and across into the passageway. He looked up 
at Curdie as much as to say, “Well, here is a bridge 
for the rest of you! Come along!” 

At once Curdie started down this queer bridge to 
show the rest of them the way. He slid down it with 
ease and safety. One by one the odd creatures fol- 
lowed. When he thought they had all come down 
into the passage, Curdie counted them to be sure they 
were all there. There were only forty-eight! One 
was missing ! He must have been left behind in the 
prison. So back up into the prison Curdie went, and 
sure enough, there he found one who had been afraid 
to follow. And no wonder ! For he had no head nor 
legs nor arms nor tail. He was just round like a 
great ball with a face on one side of it ! 

He had come with the rest from the forest to the 
prison as fast as any, rolling swiftly over the ground. 
But the leg-serpent’s back was not flat, and he was 
afraid he would roll off him and drop into the water 
below. So Curdie picked him up in his arms and, 
holding him safely, slipped down the bridge again 
and over into the passage. Then he and Lina took 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


105 


the whole number of odd beasts along the passage 
and into the cellar where the house-maid was waiting 
for him. 

Leaving the creatures there, he asked the house- 
maid to show him a way to the king’s chamber with- 
out his having to go through the servants’ dining 
hall. 

‘‘There is a way through the chamber of the 
colonel of the guard,” she said, “but he is ill in bed.” 

“Take me that way,” said Curdie. 

By many ups and downs and windings and turn- 
ings she brought him into a dimly-lighted room where 
an elderly man lay asleep. His arm was outside the 
coverlet, and Curdie gave his hand a hurried grasp 
as he went by. His heart beat with joy, for in it he 
found a good, honest human hand. 

At the door of the king’s chamber Curdie told the 
house-maid to go down once more to the servants’ 
hall and give them one warning more. Then he 
slipped in to give the king his supper. Afterward 
he told the princess to lock the door and not to be 
afraid, no matter what sort of noises she heard. 
Then he went out. 

Down in the hall the servants fell upon the house- 
maid as roughly as ever. She gave her message as 
before, but they only hooted and howled. 

“Did your messenger mention me in particular?” 
shouted the butler. ‘ ‘ I should just like to hear him ! ’ ’ 

“Then hear him now!” said the voice of Curdie in 
the doorway. “I declare this butler a villain and a 


106 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


traitor to the king ! But what better is any one of the 
rest of you who cares only for himself ; who eats and 
drinks and takes good money, but gives vile service 
in return; who steals and wastes the king’s property 
and makes his palace a disgrace !” 

For a moment they all stared in silence, even 
though they saw that he was just a miner boy with a 
pickaxe. Then with a roaring laugh a big footman 
came forward. 

thought as much!” he cried. ^‘This 
messenger is just a jailbird ! He is the one they put 
into the old prison to starve. But he got out — ^to 
come here and preach!” 

He put out his hand to seize Curdie. Curdie 
caught his hand and felt in it only a stupid ox-hoof. 
So he just struck him a light blow, and the footman 
let his arm fall with a roar. Now there rushed upon 
him the butler with a red-hot poker, and the cook 
with a sharp-pointed spit, used for roasting. Curdie 
gave a shrill whistle as he struck them back, and, with 
a howl to wake the dead, Lina dashed in, her eyes 
flaming like candles, and the butler went down in a 
moment. Then there came the rest of the creatures, 
stalking, rolling, leaping, gliding, or hobbling into 
the room. Ball-body — rolling and bounding through 
the crowd — placed himself at one door. A scorpion 
as large as a huge crab took his place at the other. 

A scene of terror followed as the queer creatures 
began chasing the servants round and round the hall. 
The women shrieked and ran madly. If any one of 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


107 


them fell down or threw herself down, she was poked 
or clawed or nibbled np again. The men were served 
no better. At last all of them, men and women, were 
chased into the kitchen. Here they were flung about 
in all directions. Their clothes were torn from them. 
They were pinched and scratched any and every- 
where. Ball-body kept rolling up them and over 
them. The scorpion kept grabbing at their legs. A 
three-foot centipede kept screwing up their bodies, 
nipping as he went. 

Next they were hunted into the scullery. Here 
they were splattered with the dirt that was all about. 
They were soused in the slops of water they had left 
around. They were smeared with ill-smelling grease. 

At last they got a door into a back yard open and 
rushed out — only to find that the wind was howling 
and the rain falling in sheets. Around and around 
the yard in the storm they were chased, and the only 
way out was one that led into the streets. Out every 
soul of them was driven and left, some standing, some 
l^^ing, and some crawling in the pouring rain. The 
door was flung to behind them and they heard it 
locked and bolted. 

And now Curdie had to deal with the people of 
higher degree who were plotting to seize the king’s 
crown. The chief ones he would punish — ^the rest 
he would chase away. He discovered that these chief 
ones — the secretary, the lord chamberlain, the master 
of horse, and the attorney-general — were having a 
secret talk. Finding a closet next to the room they 


108 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


were in, he was able to overhear their plan. This was 
to kill the king that very night, seize the princess, 
and take possession of the kingdom. After talking 
this over, they went away for a few hours’ sleep, all 
but the secretary, who was to sit up and call them at 
the right time. 

Soon after, Curdie took Lina and softly opened 
the door of the room in which the secretary sat. She 
crept in and laid herself down against it. When the 
secretary caught sight of her he stood frozen with 
terror. But she made neither motion nor sound. 
So, gathering his courage, he made a step forward. 
Then she showed her teeth with a horrible, horrible 
growl and he sank fainting into his chair. 

The leg-serpent Curdie took to the lord chamber- 
lain ’s door. His lordship was fast asleep in a magnifi- 
cent silver-gilt bed. Under it went the leg-serpent 
and out on the other side, over it and back — ^five or 
six times, folding coil after coil about it. Then, rear- 
ing his head, he began to hiss in his lordship’s face. 
His lordship awoke and howled in terror. He strug- 
gled to escape. The leg-serpent seized him by his 
hooked nose, and the man vulture knew that it was 
of no use to struggle any further. 

The tapir with the steel nose took charge of the 
master of horse. "^Vhen the master of horse saw the 
beast come in, he sprang from bed and fiew at him, 
sword in hand. The tapir’s hide did not feel his 
sword. But the tapir’s steel nose just pecked at his 



ON A FOOTSTOOL A YARD OFF SAT THE SPIDER GLARING AT HIM 





THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


109 


legs till he jumped into bed groaning, and covered 
himself up. Ajid every once in a while the tapir 
would go and pay a visit to his toes. 

For the attorney-general, Curdie led to his door 
a huge, huge spider. This man had not gone to bed, 
but sat in a chair asleep before a great mirror. For 
he had been trying the effect on his coat of a big 
diamond star he had taken from the Treasury and 
which he thought, he would be sure to get if the plot 
against the king went through. When he woke he 
thought himself paralyzed. For strands and strands 
and strands of spider web bound him tight to his 
chair. On a foot-stool a yard off sat the spider, glar- 
ing at him. 

Then began a general hunt with the rest of the 
creatures to drive all the other people out of the 
palace. Out of their beds in their night clothing, out 
of their rooms, whether gorgeous chambers or just 
garrets, the creatures hunted them. No one was 
allowed to escape. At last they were all shivering 
outside the palace gates. When they set out to look 
for shelter, the inns were so full of the servants who 
had been driven out before that these courtiers could 
find no room. Most of the people of Gwyntystomi 
shut them out. They said they must have been 
awfully wicked to have been treated so. The chief 
of these courtiers, the lord chancellor, was at last 
taken in by Derba, where little Barbara lived and 
where Curdie had found shelter when he first came 
to Gwyntystorm. 


CHAPTER XII 

THE KING AND THE FIRE OF ROSES 

CuRDiE brought Derba into the palace now to be a 
sort of housekeeper for the king. And with Derba 
to prepare his food, and Curdie to protect him, and 
Irene to nurse him, the king was getting stronger 
rapidly. Good food was what he most wanted, and 
of that there was now a-plenty. Under the honest 
hands of the one house-maid the royal chamber be- 
came a pleasure to the eye. With such changes it was 
no wonder if the king’s heart grew lighter as well as 
his brain clearer. 

The one honest attendant of the king, the colonel 
of the guard, was also growing better. Curdie went 
often to see him. They were soon friends, for the 
best people always understand each other most 
easily. Outside in Gwyntystorm the king’s enemies, 
chief of whom was the lord chancellor, were spread- 
ing bad tales. The king, they said, had murdered 
some of his faithful servants, and the others had 
barely escaped with their lives. Mad or wicked, he 
was unfit to rule, and more unfit to have charge of 
the Princess Irene. The lord chancellor began at 
once to devise how he might destroy his master. 
Soon he set out for the neighboring kingdom of 
Borsa-grass to invite the king of that country to 
enter Gwyntystorm and destroy its ruler. 

110 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


111 


And now, back in Curdie’s old home in the little 
cottage on the mountain side, it was known that 
things were getting dangerous for Curdie. One 
morning, when Peter, his father, looked at the 
emerald given him by the Lady of the Silver Moon 
and which he had laid in the ashes the night before, 
it was almost gray and dead. The old princess had 
told him that when it looked like this he was to come 
to her as fast as he could. So away rushed Peter 
to the dove tower to ask help for his son. He knew 
nothing of the way, yet somehow he found it and 
stumbled up the many stairs to the three doors in 
the dove tower and opened them one after the other. 

The first showed a bare, empty room with but a 
chair and an old spinning-wheel. The second showed 
simply a great abyss of darkness from which he 
started back in a great fright. But from the third 
came signs of life— a noise and rush like a great tide 
of water! Prom the open door hundreds of white 
wings fiapped and flashed in the simlight. White 
pigeons without munber poured out into the air, 
hovered for a moment like a huge white cloud, then, 
turning, sped away toward the north and vanished 
from sight. Nowhere was the old princess to be 
seen, and Peter, staying for nothing more, rushed 
out of the house and set forth in the same direction 
whither the birds had flown, to go and find his boy 
and give him what help he could. 

Meantime Curdie and the others in the palace 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


m 

might have starved if they had depended upon the 
people of Gwjmtystorm to send them food. Not a 
thing was done for the king by his people in the 
town. But one night Lina came to Curdie and made 
him understand that she wanted to go out. He 
opened the door and away she went. Before mid- 
night of that same day she came back dragging in 
her mouth a young deer she had caught in the forest. 
A few days after, the leg-serpent went out through 
the little back door in the wine cellar, wriggled along 
the passageway, and dived into the water of the 
river below. He returned after a while with a fine 
fish. So there was food enough, after all, and no- 
body went himgry. 

So things went on for some time while the king 
was getting well rapidly. Then one night came the 
news that the king of Borsa-grass was marching 
upon Gwyntystorm to capture it. Of course, the 
people of Gwyntystorm would throw open their gates 
and welcome him. Where were there any soldiers 
who would fight for the rightful king? What would 
now save little Irene and her father? 

Curdie saw that there was one thing he could do, 
though how much good it would accomplish he could 
not tell. But he could call Lina and the creatures 
and go out to meet the enemy. It would be a strange 
company to lead against an army of soldiers ; and he 
would probably be killed. Well, if he died, he died 
for the right, and there was an end of it. But first 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


113 


he must have a good night rest. So he called the 
house-maid and left her to watch this night by the 
bedside of the king. He himself went out into the 
corridor, lay down, and was soon fast asleep. 

Somewhere in the middle of the night he woke 
suddenly. He could not tell what it was that waked 
him. But he saw something strange. The curtain of 
the king’s door, a dull red always before, was glow- 
ing a gorgeous purple, and the crown embroidered 
on it was flashing as if it burned. Was the king’s 
chamber on Are? He darted to the door, lifted the 
curtain, and saw — a wonderful sight ! 

A long, broad marble table that usually stood at 
one side of the room had been drawn into the middle 
of the floor. On it burned a great Are of a sort that 
Curdie knew — a Are of glowing, flaming roses, red 
and white ! In the midst of the roses lay the king, 
moaning but motionless. Every rose that fell from 
the table, someone, whom Curdie could not see for 
the brightness, lifted and laid upon the king’s face! 
At length it was all covered with them, and he lay 
all within the Are, moaning still, with now and then 
a shuddering sob. 

The shape which Curdie saw and yet could not 
see wept over the king as he lay in the Are and often 
hid her face in handfuls of her shadowy hair. From 
her hair the water of her weeping dropped like a 
sunset rain in the light of the roses. At last she 
lifted a great armful of her hair and shook it over 

8 


114 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


the fire. The drops fell from it in showers, and they 
did not hiss in the fiames. There arose instead the 
sound of running brooks ! 

The glow of the red fire died away, and the glow 
of the white fire grew gray and the light was gone. 
On the table all was black except the face of the 
king, which shone from under the burnt roses like 
a diamond in the ashes of a furnace. Now Curdie 
saw and knew his Lady of the Silver Moon! The 
room was lighted by her face, by her blue eyes, by 
her sapphire crown. Her golden hair went stream- 
ing out from her through the air till it went off in 
mist and light. She was large and strong as a 
Titaness ! She stooped over the marble table, lifted 
the king in her arms as if he had been a child, and 
laid him in his bed. Then darkness fell and Curdie 
could see no more. 

He turned away with joy in his heart, his breast, 
his head, his whole body! All was safe! All was 
well! He turned back into the corridor and once 
more lay down to rest. With the handle of his pick- 
axe clasped in his hand, he sank into a dreamless 
sleep. 

When, next morning, Curdie went into the king’s 
chamber, the house-maid sat where he had left her. 
Everything in the room was as it had been the night 
before, only that a heavenly odor of roses filled the 
air of it. He went up to the bed. The king opened 
his eyes, and the soul of perfect health shone out of 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


115 


them. The fire of roses had burned all the sickness 
and weakness out of him. 

^^Is it time to rise, Curdie?’^ 

^ ‘ It is, your majesty. And to-day we must fight ! ’ ’ 

^‘Then fetch me my armor — that of plated steel. 
As he spoke he reached out his hand for his sword, 
drew it, and looked at the blade. ^‘A little rusty, 
but not useless as they said! Now go and call the 
colonel of the guard.’’ 

Presently the colonel stepped into the room, 
armed from head to foot. He, too, was well again, 
for the Lady of the Silver Moon had passed through 
his room in the night, though he did not see her. 

^^Why!” said the king. ‘‘You are dressed be- 
fore me. You need no servant either when there is 
battle in the wind.” 

“Battle, sire!” returned the colonel. “Then 
where are our soldiers?” 

“Why there and hereV^ returned the king, point- 
ing first to the colonel and then to himself. “What 
else was in your thoughts when you put on your 
armor?” 

“I came for your majesty’s orders,” said the 
colonel, simply. 

The king smiled and turned to Cur die. “And 
what was your thought, Curdie ? For your first word 
was of fighting!” 

“See, your majesty,” answered Curdie. “I have 
polished my pickaxe. If your majesty had not been 


116 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


able to take the command against the king of Borsa- 
grass this morning, I would have met the enemy at 
the head of my beasts and died in comfort — or done 
better!’’ 

‘‘Brave boy!” said the king. “He who takes his 
life in his hand is the only soldier. And now, colonel, 
can you find me a horse? For they told me m}^ 
white charger was dead.” 

“I will seek a horse for your majesty,” said the 
colonel, “and one for myself.” 

“One for my miner boy, too,” said the king. 
“And a sober old steed for the princess. She, too, 
must go to the battle and conquer with us.” 

“Pardon me, sire,” said Curdie. “A miner like 
me can fight best on foot. Besides, I must be near 
my beasts.” 

“As you will,” said the king. “Three horses, 
then, colonel. And, Curdie, go and bind fast those 
plotting rogues of yours so that you may take the 
beasts that are guarding them to the battle with you.” 

Now when the colonel entered the stables there 
stood the king’s great white horse which he had been 
told was dead! In another stall he found his own 
black one. After a little search he found a big red 
one about twenty years old and very steady, which 
he thought would do for the princess. The house- 
maid came and helped him, and together they led out 
the three horses into the court-yard. 

Here in the court-yard the king with the princess 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


117 


stood waiting, in full armor, and wearing a slender 
crown of rubies and diamonds on his helmet. For 
the princess, they brought out her queen-mama’s 
saddle, rich with gems and gold. They strapped it 
upon the big red horse and lifted her into it. 

‘ ‘ But it is too big, king-papa ! ’ ’ said Irene. ‘ ‘ And 
this horse is too tall. May I not have instead my own 
Avhite pony?” 

‘^Surely,” said the king, ‘4f he can be found!” 

^^He can be found,” said the house-maid, quietly. 
‘‘I will go and fetch him.” 

After a little she came from the stable, leading 
the white pony. Just at that moment, from a side 
door, came Lina with the forty-nine queer animals 
behind her. 

‘‘I will go with Curdie and the Uglies!” cried 
Irene. And as soon as she was mounted she rode into 
the middle of the pack and took her place there. 

And so they set out, the strangest force that ever 
went against an enemy ! The king in shining armor 
sat stately on his white steed, with the stones flashing 
on his helmet. Beside him rode the colonel upon his 
black horse. Behind them Curdie walked, his pick- 
axe gleaming in the sim. At his heels followed Lina. 
Behind her came the wonderful company of Uglies. 
In the midst of these rode little Princess Irene, 
dressed in blue and riding the prettiest of white 
ponies. Last of all came another who was quite un- 
noticed till Curdie happened to turn his head in that 


118 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


direction. Then first he saw that the house-maid, 
whom all had forgotten, was following, mounted on 
the great red horse and seated in the royal saddle ! 

On they went through Gwyntystorm, which all the 
men had deserted to join the army of the king of 
Borsa-grass. On and on, till about a mile down the 
river, the king caught sight of the enemy ^s tents 
pitched where the hank of the river widened into a 
little plain. The enemy saw them, too, and were at 
once in motion. In a very short time the battle 
was on ! 

The butchers and the bad servants of the palace 
rushed first upon the king. Curdie, with Lina and 
her pack, bounded to meet them. Curdie struck down 
the first one with his pickaxe. Lina rushed raging 
and gnashing among them ! Down went the butchers, 
one leg of each man crushed by Lina’s jaws! Then 
she fiashed in among the dogs ! 

Curdie and the Uglies turned to help the king and 
the colonel, who were now fighting with the soldier 
guard who had once served in the palace. The horses 
of the guard, struck with terror at the look of the 
strange beasts, reared and snorted, then whirling 
about fied from the field. But behind them came up 
at once the ranks of the soldiers of Borsa-grass. 
Upon them charged the king and the colonel and 
Curdie with his beasts. But they were so many in 
number that now the king and his companions were 
in the greatest possible danger. 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


119 


Just then a dense cloud came over the sun, and 
sank swiftly toward the earth ! The cloud moved all 
together, and yet it was made up of thousands of 
white flakes, each one moving by itself. These flakes 
were the wings of pigeons ! 

Down swooped the birds upon the soldiers of 
Borsa-grass ! Right into the faces of man and horse 
they flew with swift-beating wings, blinding their 
eyes ! Horses reared and plunged and wheeled! All 
was at once in confusion! The men made frantic 
efforts to catch the birds, but not one could they 
touch ! Between every wild clutch came a peck of a 
beak and a slap of a wing in the face ! Down and up 
again the pigeons skimmed, and around and around ! 
It was like a storm at sea in which the wind was made 
up of birds and the sea made up of men ! 


CHAPTER XIII 

THE BATTLE ENDED AND THE KING 
KESTORED 

The moment the battle began the pony of the 
princess took fright and started to run away. But 
the house-maid wheeled her red horse right across 
the path and stopped him. The princess and her at- 
tendant then sat there watching the battle. 

There was something very strange about it, the 
princess thought. It seemed to her that after any of 
the pigeons dashed into the faces of the soldiers and 
horses, those pigeons always flew back and made a 
circle around the head of the house-maid on the red 
horse before darting off on another attack. There 
were so many pigeons that there was a great flapping 
and flashing of white wings about them all the time. 
Then, too, it seemed to Irene that the maid was con- 
stantly waving her hand toward the enemy. And as 
the birds flew just as she waved her hand, it looked 
as if the strange maid were casting them at the enemy 
like spears. The moment a pigeon had rounded her 
head, it went off straight as a bolt from a bow. 

The princess was not the only one who noticed 
this. The leaders of the enemy, standing on a little 
hill not far away, saw it also. Believing it was some 
wicked spell being woven against them, they rushed 
120 




THE MOMENT A PIGEON HAD ROUNDED HER HAND IT FLEW OFF 
STRAIGHT AS A BOLT FROM A BOW 



THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


121 


down the hill to fall upon the house-maid and de- 
stroy her. But as the first man reached her a strong 
old miner suddenly stood beside her. With his pick- 
axe he struck at the foremost rider, and horse and 
man went down together. Before the next one could 
strike at her, a mass of pigeons darted into the faces 
of him and his horse. In a moment he lay beside his 
companion. The rest turned and fied with a cloud of 
birds after them. 

said the maid to the old man. ^‘Tou came 
then, Peter ! W elcome and thanks ! ’ ’ 

Peter!’’ thought the princess. Was not Peter 
the father of Curdie? How had he come there? It 
was all very strange ! 

By this time the battle was about over. The 
soldiers were on the run, the strange beasts roaring 
in the midst of them, and the birds picking and slap- 
ping at their faces. 

^‘Cail off your IJglies, Curdie,” shouted the king, 
^‘and let the pigeons do the rest!” 

He did so, and they watched the white mass in the 
air put an end to the strange struggle. Homeward 
the soldiers rushed by the road they had come, many 
dropping on the way and lying where they fell. The 
pigeons were always in the necks of those who ran. 
At last the eyes of the king and his attendants saw 
only a dust cloud below and a bird cloud above. Be- 
fore night the bird cloud came back, fiying over 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


m 

Gwyntystorm. Swiftly sinking, it disappeared 
among the old roofs of the king’s palace. 

From the fight the king and his army returned 
home. With them they brought one prisoner only — 
the lord chancellor, who had brought the soldiers of 
Borsa-grass to fight his own king. When Curdie 
dragged him out from under a fallen tent, he found 
that his hand had in it the foot of a mule ! 

When the king’s force entered his city of Gwynty- 
storm it was as still as the grave ! The wicked citizens 
had fied back home thoroughly beaten ! But because 
they were afraid to face their angry king, they hid 
themselves in their houses. The king’s whole train 
walked quietly through the streets to the gates of the 
palace. Just as they reached the gate, Peter, who 
had been telling Curdie how he came to be there, 
ended with the words, ^‘And so I was in the nick of 
time to save the two princesses!” 

‘‘The two princesses, father! The one on the red 
horse was the house-maid!” cried Curdie, and ran 
to open the gates for the king. 

After they had eaten, and rested themselves, the 
king told Curdie to go and bring the prisoners who 
were bound in the palace, and the lord chancellor, 
into the market place of Gwyntystorm, and to have 
his queer beasts come with him. Then the king put 
on his crown and went out and stood in the centre 
of the market place. He called to the people to come 
out of their houses and stand before him. And, 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


123 


though they were in dreadful fear of Ourdie’s 
creatures, they dared not disobey, and came. 

“You are a bad people!” said the king, sternly. 
“And you have been well punished. But these men 
here” — pointing to the lord chancellor and the doctor 
and the attorney-general and the butler and the lord 
chamberlain and the master of the horse — “are worse 
than you, because they misled you and made you 
worse than you would have been without them. Now 
you shall see how I punish them, so that you may 
mend your ways and not incur the same punish- 
ment!” 

He made a sign to Curdie, who at once brought 
up the leg-serpent. To his body they bound the lord 
chancellor, who howled with terror. The butler they 
boimd to the body of Club-head. So one after the 
other they bound them all upon the bodies of the 
strange creatures. 

Then the king said, “My good beasts, take these 
men with you and go to your places!” 

At once the beasts rushed into the crowd, scattei’- 
ing it like a cloud of leaves! Out of the city they 
tore and vanished from sight. And what became of 
the bad men they bore away was never known. 

When the king returned to his palace he said to 
Curdie, “You are henceforth my own boy, Curdie. 
My darling princess cannot choose but love you, and 
when I am gone you and she shall be king and queen. ’ ’ 

After that the people called him Prince Curdie, 


124 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


but the king always called him just Curdie’’ or 
‘^my miner boy.” 

When they sat down to supper that night Curdie 
had another surprise. The house-maid waited on 
them, and as she passed Curdie she looked him full 
in the eyes. Curdie started and sprang from his 
seat. Then he dropped on his knees and cried out, 
‘‘My Lady of the Silver Moon!” 

And she said to him, “Did I not tell you, Cur- 
die, that it might be you would not know me when 
next you saw me?” 

She went out of the room and in a moment re- 
turned in royal purple with a crown of diamonds and 
rubies. From under this her hair went flowing to the 
floor, all about her ruby-slippered feet. Her face was 
radiant with joy! The king rose and kneeled on one 
knee to do her homage. And all the rest kneeled 
behind him to show her honor. 

Of course, the king had now to find new people 
to serve under him and rule the people. So he sent 
out Curdie to find him people that had human hands 
instead of beasts’ paws. Out of these he formed a 
new household. The evil men he had punished had 
wasted all his money, and the people were too poor 
to give him any. But he remembered the gold Curdie 
had found in the rock under his palace. So he sent 
Peter to gather some honest miners and dig out what 
he needed to make into money. In this way things 
were set right and the land was once more ruled in 
the right way. 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


125 


The Lady of the Silver Moon lived now with her 
pigeons somewhere up in the top of the king's palace 
instead of in the dove tower away on the mountain 
side. She still watched over the lives of those dear 
to her in the palace, though it was not often that any 
one saw her. Once more, however, Curdie was to see 
her, and to see a strange sight when he came upon her. 

Up into the top of the palace he went one day, 
seeking her. After long wandering about, through 
a half-open door he thought he smelled the odor of 
her fire of roses. Pushing open the door softly, he 
saw, to his amazement, the same room which he had 
entered long ago in the dove tower — the long, misty 
room with the spinning-wheel whirling in blue light, 
behind and beyond which he had found the Lady of 
the Silver Moon waiting for his coming. There he 
had seen the fire of roses, and in that fire his hands 
had been burned into their power of feeling what 
people really were. 

He went softly forward, and this time, too, he 
found her on the other side of her whirling wheel. 
There before him burned the fire — a huge heap of 
red and white roses. Before it she was now standing 
as he had seen her stand before. A little behind her 
was Lina, slowly wagging her tail and watching, with 
her eyes on the Lady, till the right moment should 
come. The beautiful princess was casting roses, 
more and more roses, upon the fire. At last she 
turned and said, ''Now, Lina!" Instantly, burrow- 
ing into the fire, Lina went with a dash. There rose 


126 


THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE 


up a black smoke and a dust, and Lina was never 
more seen in the palace. 

And now you would like to know what became 
of Gwyntystorm. Irene and Curdie were married. 
The old king died and they were king and queen. So 
long as they lived Gwyntystorm was a better city 
and good people grew in it. But they had no chil- 
dren, and when they died the people chose a king. 

Now the new king went mining and mining in the 
rock under the city. He grew more and more eager 
after gold, and paid less and less heed to his people. 
Rapidly they sunk toward their old wickedness. But 
still the king went on mining, and coining gold by the 
pailful, until the people were worse even than in the 
old time. So greedy was the king after gold that he 
made the men chip away the pillars of the rock which 
Peter and his miners had left to hold up the city. 
Prom the thickness of an oak tree of a thousand 
years they chipped them down to the size of a fir tree 
of fifty. 

One day at noon, when life was at its busiest, the 
whole city fell with a roaring crash! The cries of 
men and the shrieks of women went up with its dust, 
and then there was a great silence. Where the 
mighty rock once towered, covered with homes and 
crowned with the royal palace, now rushes and raves 
the foaming rapids of the river. All around spreads 
a wilderness of wild deer. The very name of Gwynty- 
storm has ceased from the lips of men. 



LIPPINCOTT’S READERS 


Lippincott’s Primer 
Lippincott’s First Reader 
Lippincott’s Second Reader 
Lippincott’s Third Reader 
Lippincott’s Fourth Reader 


THE AUTHORS are Homer P. Lewis, superintendent o/ 
schools at Worcester, Mass., and Eliz. R. Lewis. 

THE BOOKS— Both the text and the illustrations of these books 
appeal to the child. The lessons are based upon standard literature 
The vocabularies are not overcrowded, and as far as possible they 
are phonetic, especially is this true with reference to the lower 
numbers. 

THE METHOD — Believing that teachers will have the largest 
measure of success in the teaching of any subject when they exercise 
their own common sense, unhampered by fanciful methods, the 
authors of these Readers have seen fit to present only properly 
graded lessons, allowing teachers to use that method which will best 
meet existing conditions. 

The authors have no faith in the “painless methods’’ so 
earnestly sought after by many teachers. Knowing that the pro- 
cess of education consists in overcoming obstacles, they have not 
smoothed away all difiiculties from the path of the pupil. It is 
hoped, however, that enough has been done to enable the child to 
grasp the thought with sufficient ease to lead to that naturalness of 
expression which is the soul of good reading. 


J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS PHILADELPHIA 















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